About

Yasuhiro Honda is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine, specializing in Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. He is affiliated with the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine & Imaging (AIMI) at Stanford, where his work focuses on integrating artificial intelligence into healthcare, particularly in the field of cardiovascular medicine. His role involves advancing research and education in medical AI applications, contributing to the development of innovative solutions for cardiovascular health. As a faculty member, he is engaged in collaborative efforts to improve diagnostic and treatment strategies through AI-driven approaches, supporting Stanford's mission to innovate at the intersection of medicine and technology.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Geography
• Artificial Intelligence
• Nursing
• Archaeology
• Gerontology
• Radiology
• Library science
• Economic growth
• Business
• Environmental resource management
• Environmental science
• Internal medicine
• Cardiology
• Economics
• Family medicine
• Environmental planning
• Environmental health
• Meteorology

Selected publications

• Angina with non-obstructive coronary arteries and myocardial bridge: long-term outcomes of surgical unroofing

  European Heart Journal · 2026-05-02

  article

  BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A myocardial bridge (MB) can cause angina in patients with non-obstructive coronary arteries. For patients with a functionally significant MB and severe angina despite maximal medical therapy, surgical unroofing improves short-term symptoms and quality of life (QoL). This study evaluated long-term clinical and symptomatic outcomes of surgical unroofing of a functionally significant left anterior descending artery MB. METHODS: Two hundred eighteen adult patients who underwent surgical unroofing for an MB were prospectively followed. Preoperative assessments included stress echocardiography, coronary computed tomography angiography, invasive coronary angiography, and intravascular ultrasound. A functionally significant MB was defined as dobutamine-stress diastolic fractional flow reserve (dFFR) and/or resting full-cycle ratio (RFR) ≤ 0.76. The Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) assessed symptoms and QoL at baseline and follow-up. Additionally, among those with a functionally significant MB, 65 surgically unroofed patients were matched with 65 patients who did not undergo surgery using propensity score matching. RESULTS: The median follow-up was 5 (3-9) years. At follow-up, patients reported significant and highly clinically meaningful improvement in all SAQ domains-physical limitation, anginal stability, anginal frequency, treatment satisfaction, QoL, and SAQ summary score. Unroofed patients reported a significantly greater improvement in physical limitation (27.8 vs 11.4, P = .004) and angina frequency (30 vs 20, P = .01) than the non-surgical patients. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical unroofing of a symptomatic and functionally significant MB is associated with significant long-term improvement in symptoms and QoL. For patients with severe angina and failed medical management who have a functionally significant MB, surgical unroofing is a beneficial treatment strategy.

  PublisherDOI

• DONOR-DERIVED CELL-FREE DNA IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH ACCELERATED CARDIAC ALLOGRAFT VASCULOPATHY AMONG ISOLATED HEART TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

  Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2025-03-29

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Early Vascular Response of a Biodegradable Polymer‐Coated Sirolimus‐Eluting Stent in Patients With ST‐Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction—The OCIMI Study

  Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions · 2025-07-25 · 1 citations

  article

  ABSTRACT Background Few studies have addressed the early healing pattern of ultrathin strut drug‐eluting stents implanted specifically for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. AIMS This study employed optical coherence tomography (OCT) to assess neointimal coverage and vascular healing following implantation of ultrathin biodegradable polymer‐coated sirolimus‐eluting stents (SES) in patients with ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods The OCIMI study was a prospective, single‐center investigation of 23 STEMI patients treated with Supraflex Cruz SES (Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd., Surat, India) during primary PCI between September 2019 and June 2020. All patients underwent OCT imaging at 3‐month follow‐up, and images were analyzed at an independent core laboratory by analysts blinded to clinical and procedural data. Results At the 3‐month follow‐up, no clinical events were reported. The analyzed stent length was 28.4 ± 12.0 mm, with a stent diameter of 2.70 ± 0.46 mm and a reference lumen diameter of 2.46 ± 0.44 mm. OCT demonstrated nearly complete stent strut coverage (99.94%), with uncovered struts observed in 0.06 ± 0.16% of total struts per stent. Incomplete stent apposition was present in 0.14 ± 0.37% of struts. The mean neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) area and thickness were 0.81 ± 0.40 mm 2 and 110 ± 40 µm, respectively, with a mean NIH unevenness score of 1.74 ± 0.19. Conclusion Primary PCI performed with Supraflex Cruz SES demonstrated excellent early vascular healing at the 3‐month OCT follow‐up. The extremely low incidence of uncovered struts may have implications for abbreviated dual antiplatelet therapy in high‐bleeding risk STEMI patients.

  PublisherDOI

• Enhancing PCI Outcomes With Postprocedural Murray Law-Based Quantitative Flow Ratio

  JACC Asia · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  editorialOpen accessSenior author

  [Figure: see text]

  PublisherDOI

• Impact of Calcium Fracture After Balloon Angioplasty in Patients With Complex Calcified Coronary Plaque ~The Results of the OCT‐CALC Registry~

  Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions · 2025-09-23 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Target lesion calcification is known to influence the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) outcomes. This study aimed to assess the impact of calcium fractures after balloon angioplasty on the PCI results as well as the long-term clinical outcomes. METHODS: We formed a prospective, multicenter registry that enrolled 268 patients who underwent PCI to lesions with moderate to severe calcification. Balloon dilatation and subsequent drug eluting stent implantation were performed with optical coherence tomography (OCT) guidance in every case. Serial OCT images just before and after balloon angioplasty, and after stent implantation were analyzed at 1-mm intervals by an independent core laboratory. The primary endpoint was the relationship between calcium fracture after balloon angioplasty and stent expansion. The secondary endpoint was target vessel failure (TVF) at 1 year, defined as a composite of cardiac death, target vessel-related myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization. RESULTS: A total of 242 patients were analyzed. Of these, OCT analysis was performed in 147 patients with a complete OCT data set. Calcium fractures were observed in 28 patients (19%) at the minimal lumen area site. The percent stent expansion was greater in lesions with calcium fracture than those without (99 ± 26% vs. 91 ± 18%, p = 0.039). In 229 patients who underwent clinical follow-up at 1 year, TVF occurred in 23 patients (10.0%). CONCLUSION: The OCT-guided PCI strategy demonstrated acceptable acute and 1-year clinical outcomes. The presence of calcium fractures after balloon angioplasty may have a potential impact on acute results after DES implantation in calcified lesions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Invasive Coronary Function Testing in Patients With Prior PCI Who Have Persistent ANOCA

  Circulation Cardiovascular Interventions · 2025-06-25 · 2 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: Patients with post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) angina are challenging to manage. Comprehensive coronary function testing (CFT) can identify occult coronary abnormalities in patients with angina and nonobstructive coronary arteries. Its utility in patients with post-PCI persistent angina who have no obstructive coronary artery disease is unexplored. METHODS: We assessed 46 patients with a prior PCI experiencing persistent angina. CFT evaluated the presence of endothelial dysfunction, epicardial and microvascular spasm, low fractional flow reserve, coronary microvascular dysfunction, and myocardial bridging by intravascular ultrasound. The Seattle Angina Questionnaire measured symptom severity before and 1-year post-CFT. RESULTS: The median age was 60 (53-69) years, with 63% being women. Pre-PCI lesion stenosis was 80 (70-90)% and pre-PCI fractional flow reserve (n=7) was 0.72 (0.67-0.74). Left anterior descending artery PCI was performed in 47.8%. The median duration between PCI and CFT was 19.5 (11.2-57.2) months. Patients reported severe anginal symptoms and poor quality of life on the Seattle Angina Questionnaire. CFT revealed a median fractional flow reserve of 0.84 (0.82-0.87), and 19.6% had a fractional flow reserve ≤0.8. Endothelial dysfunction was diagnosed in 36.9%, of whom 64.7% had moderate to severe endothelial dysfunction. Epicardial and microvascular spasm were present in 56.5% and 17.4%, respectively. Coronary microvascular dysfunction was present in 43.5%, and 63% had myocardial bridging. Patients reported significant improvement in Seattle Angina Questionnaire scores 1-year post-CFT. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with post-PCI persistent angina have severe symptoms and poor quality of life, with the majority exhibiting endothelial dysfunction, epicardial spasm, coronary microvascular dysfunction, and myocardial bridging. Comprehensive CFT should be considered in these patients to help diagnose an underlying cause of their persistent angina and guide therapy for a better outcome.

  PublisherDOI

• Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy Inhibition With Alirocumab: The CAVIAR Trial

  Circulation · 2025-11-10 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy is an important cause of mortality after heart transplantation (HT). Dyslipidemia is a major contributor to the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy. The safety and effectiveness of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 inhibition to lower cholesterol and to prevent cardiac allograft vasculopathy early after HT are not well established. METHODS: In this investigator-initiated, prospective, multicenter, double-blind randomized trial, participants were randomized early after HT to receive either alirocumab or placebo in addition to rosuvastatin. Before randomization and at 1 year, all participants underwent invasive coronary assessment, including angiography, fractional flow reserve, coronary flow reserve, the index of microcirculatory resistance, and intravascular ultrasound with near-infrared spectroscopy. Lipid values were assessed at baseline and at prespecified intervals. The primary end point was the change in coronary artery plaque volume from baseline to 1 year after HT based on serial intravascular ultrasound. RESULTS: A total of 114 HT recipients were included (57 assigned to alirocumab and 57 assigned to placebo). Baseline characteristics were well matched between the 2 groups. The low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels decreased significantly from baseline to 1 year in the alirocumab arm (72.7±31.7 to 31.5±20.7 mg/dL; P <0.001) and did not change with placebo (69.0±22.4 to 69.2±28.1 mg/dL; P =0.92). Plaque volume increased numerically in both groups from baseline to 12 months (alirocumab, 176.3±95.2 to 184.5±105.4 mm³; P =0.23; placebo 173.7±96.7 to 183.1±109.8 mm 3 ; P =0.15). The change in plaque volume (mean difference in differences) did not differ between groups (1.01 [0.89–1.14]; P =0.86). Fractional flow reserve, coronary flow reserve, and the index of microcirculatory resistance did not change significantly with the addition of alirocumab. There were no significant adverse events related to alirocumab. CONCLUSIONS: Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 inhibition with alirocumab in addition to statin therapy early after HT safely lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol but did not reduce coronary artery plaque progression after 1 year compared with rosuvastatin alone in patients with a low baseline low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT03537742.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Comparison of Short-Term Clinical Outcomes Between Intravascular Lithotripsy and Rotational Atherectomy for Calcified Coronary Stenosis in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome

  Circulation Reports · 2025-07-04 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Background: The optimal revascularization strategy for calcified lesions in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains unclear. This study aimed to compare the short-term outcomes of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) and rotational atherectomy (RA) for patients with ACS resulting from calcified lesions. Methods and Results: Among 3,556 consecutive patients with ACS who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between 2016 and 2024, we retrospectively analyzed 52 patients who received drug-eluting stents with either IVL (n=24) or RA (n=28) for calcified lesions. The primary outcome was the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). In addition, we evaluated slow-flow or no-reflow phenomena incidence during PCI and the procedural success rate. Compared with patients with RA, those with IVL had a smaller preprocedural minimum lumen diameter and a larger preprocedural reference vessel diameter. Primary outcomes and procedural success rates were comparable between both groups. However, the slow-flow or no-reflow incidence was significantly lower in the IVL group than in the RA group. After adjusting for confounders, IVL was independently associated with a lower slow-flow or no-reflow incidence. Conclusions: In patients with ACS due to calcified lesions, there was no significant difference in 30-day MACE incidence between both groups. However, slow-flow incidence was lower in the IVL group.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ASSOCIATION OF SODIUM-GLUCOSE COTRANSPORTER-2 INHIBITOR USE WITH ACCELERATED CARDIAC ALLOGRAFT VASCULOPATHY IN HEART TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

  Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2025-03-29

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Comparison of Coronary Physiological Indices in Identifying Functionally Significant Myocardial Bridges in ANOCA

  Circulation Cardiovascular Interventions · 2025-05-14 · 7 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: A functionally significant myocardial bridge (MB) is an important cause of angina with nonobstructive coronary arteries. However, distinguishing a functionally significant versus incidental MB remains challenging. Resting and hyperemic intracoronary functional indices are available, but no studies have compared their diagnostic performance in MBs. METHODS: We prospectively studied 64 patients with angina and nonobstructive coronary arteries, all of whom had an MB confirmed by intravascular ultrasound. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) and resting full-cycle ratio (RFR) under dobutamine stress, with dobutamine diastolic fractional flow reserve (dFFR) as a reference standard. Dobutamine iFR and dobutamine RFR were assessed in the first 18 patients, while only dobutamine RFR was assessed in the remaining 46. dobutamine dFFR ≤0.76 was considered indicative of a functionally significant MB. RESULTS: <0.001) with dobutamine dFFR. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis to identify the cutoff for dobutamine dFFR ≤0.76 was 0.81 for dobutamine iFR (area under the curve 0.961) and 0.76 for dobutamine RFR (area under the curve 0.996). The diagnostic accuracy of dobutamine iFR was 94.4%, with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 85.7%. For dobutamine RFR, the diagnostic accuracy was 96.9%, with a sensitivity of 95.8% and specificity of 100%. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with angina and nonobstructive coronary arteries and an MB confirmed by intravascular ultrasound, dobutamine iFR and dobutamine RFR may serve as alternatives to dobutamine dFFR in identifying a functionally significant MB, with dobutamine RFR having superior diagnostic accuracy.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Peter J. Fitzgerald

  Stanford University

  879 shared

• Paul G. Yock

  Stanford University

  438 shared

• Katsuhisa Waseda

  Aichi Medical University

  340 shared

• William F. Fearon

  VA Palo Alto Health Care System

  257 shared

• Kozo Okada

  Kyorin University

  240 shared

• Bon‐Kwon Koo

  200 shared

• Seung‐Ho Hur

  192 shared

• Junya Ako

  Kitasato University

  191 shared