Establishment of functional and stable collaterals in the ischemic myocardium is crucial to restoring cardiac function after myocardial infarction. Here, we show that only dual delivery of a combination of angiogenic and arteriogenic factors to the ischemic myocardium could significantly reestablish stable collateral networks and improve myocardial perfusion and function. A combination of FGF-2...

After birth, new blood vessel formation proceeds via angiogenesis or arteriogenesis. Angiogenesis (capillary sprouting) results in higher capillary density. Arteriogenesis (rapid proliferation of collateral arteries) is potentially able to significantly alter the outcome of coronary and peripheral artery disease. The processes share some growth features but differ in many aspects.

Orthostatic transient ischemic attacks (TIA) are very much rarer than orthostatic generalized cerebral ischemia (syncope). A case is described and previous reports reviewed. Orthostatic TIA appears to occur only with large vessel occlusion. In these patients, collateral blood supply is marginal and unable to support normal postural autoregulation.

We are reporting a rare case of a patient with the right coronary artery giving a large collateral vessel to an intercostal artery in a patient with repaired coarctation of aorta. A 64 year-old man with coarctation of the aorta, surgically repaired at 18 years of age, presented with dyspnea. A trans-esophageal echocardiogram revealed a severely stenotic bicuspid aortic valve.

A large animal model of chronic myocardial ischemia and heart failure is crucial for the development of novel therapeutic approaches. In this study we developed a novel percutaneous one- and two-vessel model for chronic myocardial ischemia using a stent coated with a polytetrafluoroethylene tube formed in a bottleneck shape. The bottleneck stent was implanted in the proximal left anterior desce...

AIMS We aimed to compare coronary artery disease (CAD) at the time of a first acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in type II diabetic and non-diabetic patients by coronary angiography and by optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS AND RESULTS Two different patient populations with a first ACS were enrolled for the angiographic (167 patients) and the OCT (72 patients) substudy. Angiographic CAD ...

During acute occlusion of an epicardial vessel collaterals preserve the microvascular perfusion and limit the extent of myocardial damage. Pressure-derived collateral flow index (CFIp) assessed by intracoronary pressure measurement allow us to quantify collateral vessel development. The angiographic myocardial blush (MB) scores, based on the contrast dye density and washout in the infarcted myo...

Collateral circulation is an alternative source of blood supply to the myocardium if this is jeopardized by failure of the original vessel to provide adequate flow. Gradual occlusion, or a high grade stenosis of the coronary arteries, is frequently associated with collateral development in patients with coronary artery disease. Although the existence of collateral circulation in such patients i...

BACKGROUND Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) and angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) have recently been identified as ligands for the endothelial cell-specific Tie2 receptor. Little is known regarding the impact of these Tie2 ligands on postnatal neovascularization. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that gene transfer of plasmid DNA encoding Ang1 and Ang2 could modulate collateral vessel development in a rabbit mode...

OBJECTIVES This study evaluated two methods for the quantitative measurement of collaterals using intracoronary (IC) blood flow velocity or pressure measurements. BACKGROUND The extent of myocardial necrosis after coronary artery occlusion is substantially influenced by the collateral circulation. So far, qualitative methods have been available to assess the human coronary collateral circulat...