Backgrnd The physiological assessment of angiographically intermediate-severity stenoses remains problematic. Functional measurements of poststenotic intracoronary Doppler coronary flow reserve can be performed in humans but have not been correlated with hyperemic myocardial perfusion imaging or angiographic data in this patient population. Method and Resus Thirty-three patients undergoing diag...

Standard echocardiographic evaluation of aortic stenosis (AS) severity includes measurement of aortic velocity, mean transaortic pressure gradient, and continuity equation valve area. Although these measures are adequate for decision making in most patients, there is no single value that defines severe stenosis. Aortic stenosis affects not just the valve, but the entire vascular system, includi...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine differences in coronary stenosis severity and morphology and time course of progression between Q-wave and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 32 patients with new Q-wave MI and 38 patients with new non-Q-wave MI who underwent coronary angiography both before and after MI without interval revascularization...

It is likely that factors other than stenosis severity predispose some atherosclerotic plaques to rupture. Because focal increases in circumferential stress may be an important mechanism of plaque rupture, we examined peak circumferential stress of atherosclerotic lesions by using finite element analysis based on idealized two-dimensional cross sections of diseased vessels similar to intravascu...

percutaneous coronary angioplasty (ptca) of a coronary stenosis without documented ischemia at noninvasive stress testing is often performed, but its benefit is unproven. coronary pressure– derived fractional flow reserve (ffr) is an invasive index of stenosis severity defined as the ratio of maximal blood pressure in a stenotic vessel to the normal maximal pressure in the same vessel. ffr is a...

Atherosclerotic disease, and the subsequent complications of thrombosis and plaque rupture, has been associated with local shear stress. In the diseased carotid artery, local variations in shear stress are induced by various geometrical features of the stenotic plaque. Greater stenosis severity, plaque eccentricity (symmetry) and plaque ulceration have been associated with increased risk of cer...

BACKGROUND Wall shear stress (WSS) is an established predictor of coronary atherosclerosis progression. Prior studies have reported that high WSS has been associated with high-risk atherosclerotic plaque characteristics (APCs). WSS and APCs are quantifiable by coronary computed tomography angiography, but the relationship of coronary lesion ischemia-evaluated by fractional flow reserve-to WSS a...

Objective To determine the plasma urolensin II(UII) levels in various types of coronary heart disease and to clarify how the plasma UII levels correlate with the clinical presentation, extent and severity of coronary artery atherosclerosis (CAD). Methods: One hundred and three aged patients undergoing elective diagnostic coronary angiography for proven or clinical suspected coronary heart disea...

Non-invasive continuous and pulsed wave Doppler ultrasonography was performed in 102 consecutive patients with clinically ill defined systolic murmurs to differentiate between flow murmurs, mitral regurgitation, aortic stenosis, and ventricular septal defect, as well as to assess the severity of aortic stenosis. Diagnoses with the Doppler method were based on velocity, direction, and duration o...

OBJECTIVES The degree of preoperative cerebrovascular disease in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery has not been well studied. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and severity of cerebrovascular disease in such patients. METHODS The subjects were 91 patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery. We investigated the prevalence and severity of cerebral infarct...