Introduction: Coronary artery anomalies are rare clinical entities reported in 0.6% to 5.6% of diagnostic coronary angiographies. Anomalous origins of coronary arteries from distal segments are rarely reported. Presented herein is a coronary anomaly in which the circumflex artery (CX) originated as a continuation of the posterolateral branch of the right coronary artery (RCA) w...

OBJECTIVE To identify human papilloma viruses (HPV) in atheromatous coronary arteries. BACKGROUND Atheromatous arterial disease is primarily an initial inflammatory response to unknown stimuli. The crucial question is "what causes the initial inflammation in atheromatous disease?" HPV infections may be relevant as US women with vaginal, high risk for cancer, HPV infections, are at up to three...

Background. Platelet aggregation is believed to contribute to the precipitation of acute ischemic syndromes. Because physical activity has been proposed as one possible trigger in converting a patient with chronic coronary artery disease to one with an acute ischemic syndrome, we examined the hypothesis that platelets become activated when coronary blood flow velocities (and thereby shear stres...

Fibromuscular dysplasia is a nonatherosclerotic and non-inflammatory vascular disease with primary lesion of renal and internal carotid arteries. We present a neonatal case of fibromuscular dysplasia who died on the second day of life. The newborn suffered from fibromuscular dysplasia of the coronary arteries and a congenital heart defect. The interesting feature of this case was the formation ...

background: coronary arteriovenous fistulas (cavfs) are direct connections from one or more coronary arteries to cardiac chambers or a large vessel. they are mostly of congenital origin. the aim of this study was to describe clinical presentation and also delineate the course and management of cavf. methods: clinical data, chest x-rays, echocardiographic and angiographic evaluation of 40 patien...

BACKGROUND The neurotrophin (NT) family, including nerve growth factor NT-3 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), has a critical role in the survival, growth, maintenance, and death of central and peripheral neurons. NTs and their receptors are expressed in atherosclerotic lesions; however, their significance in cardiovascular disease remains unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS To clarify th...

To determine whether compensatory enlargement of atherosclerotic coronary arteries occurs and to what degree it affects the angiographic assessment of coronary artery disease, we performed postmortem coronary angiography of 30 human hearts with suspected coronary artery disease and studied 70 histologic cross sections of the proximal left anterior descending artery and proximal right coronary a...

BACKGROUND Atherosclerotic coronary arteries are prone to constriction but the underlying causes are incompletely understood. We tested the hypothesis that endothelin-1 (ET-1), a potent vasoconstrictor, contributes to the heightened tone of atherosclerotic human coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS In 8 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 8 patients with angiographically smooth ...

The significance of postextrasystolic T wave changes in beats following induced extrasystoles was assessed by angiography in 55 patients. These T wave changes were found in 81 per cent of coronary artery disease patients but also in 68 per cent of patients with normal coronary arteries (PNS). All patients with normal baseline electrocardiograms and normal coronary arteries showed postextrasysto...

OBJECTIVE Transposition of the great arteries is a common congenital heart disease. Arterial switch is the gold standard operation for this complex heart disease. Arterial switch operation in the presence of intramural coronary artery is surgically the most demanding even for the most experienced hands. We are presenting our experience with a modified technique for intramural coronary arteries ...