Volcano Corp.’s (NSDQ:VOLC) instant wave-Free Ratio coronary lesion detector proved highly effective at diagnosing coronary lesions, according to the results of the company’s Advise trials.

The instant wave-Free Ratio (iFR) system, under investigational device exemption in the U.S., aims to provide a pharmaceutical-free alternative to the gold standard fractional flow reserve (FFR) method for assessing narrowed blood vessels.

The results of these assessments are used to determine whether a particular patient needs a stent or other therapy.

FFR systems require that patients receive an injection that excites the heart, which can increase the cost of a procedure and cause patient discomfort, according to a press release.

In a study of 157 lesions in 131 patients conducted alongside researchers at Imperial College London, the iFR system demonstrated 88 percent overall diagnostic accuracy, the company revealed at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics symposium in San Diego this week.

"In an environment where decision-making in the cath lab is increasingly questioned, Volcano is committed to delivering tools that give physicians what we call the ‘moment of proof’: a quantifiable measure of lesion severity that is more precise than angiography and justifies the use of a stent based on each patient’s individual physiology," general manager of functional management for Volcano Joe Burnett said in prepared remarks.

The results were accepted for publication the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.