Coronariografía: más allá de la anatomía coronaria

Although technical advances enable normal epicardial coronary artery blood flow to be restored in most patients suffering myocardial infarction, restoration of blood flow is not always followed by improved myocardial perfusion. Recently, therefore, interest in the assessment of myocardial perfusion has grown, and a number of different assessment methods are available. The aim of this article was to provide an evaluation of the additional information that can be obtained from the widely used technique of conventional coronary angiography. We present a review of the data on epicardial coronary artery blood flow (both semiquantitative and quantitative) and on microvascular blood flow that can be obtained using coronary angiography and discuss their prognostic significance.