OBJECTIVE To investigate the long-term prognostic implications of coronary calcification in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention for obstructive coronary artery disease. METHODS Patient-level data from 6296 patients enrolled in seven clinical drug-eluting stents trials were analysed to identify in angiographic images the presence of severe coronary calcification by an indepe...

BACKGROUND To test the hypothesis that a semi-quantitative echocardiographic calcium score (eCS) significantly correlates with cardiac calcium measured by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and, secondarily, severe coronary artery calcifications and stenosis. METHODS This is a retrospective, observational study, conducted in a tertiary centre. eCS was compared with CCTA scores of...

To the Editor: We read with interest the review by Abedin et al, who provide valuable insights into the mechanisms of vascular calcification and teleological concepts.1 However, regarding the clinical ramifications, they make diverse statements. We agree that, in patients selected by knowledgeable physicians, coronary artery calcification can be used “. . . for identifying patients at risk for ...

BACKGROUND Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is highly prevalent among dialysis patients and is associated with increased cardiovascular and all cause mortality. Magnesium (Mg) inhibits vascular calcification in animal and in-vitro studies but whether the same effect occurs in humans is uncertain. METHODS A single centre cross-sectional study of 80 prevalent peritoneal dialysis (PD) patient...

An 11-year-old boy presented with giant calcifications on the chest radiograph, detected during screening for heart disease (Figure). He had been diagnosed with measles twice, at 1 and 2 years of age. Before this screening, he had been asymptomatic. An ECG revealed sinus rhythm and no specific ST-T–wave changes. The CT scan showed 2 giant circular masses at the atrioventricular sulcus of the ri...

BACKGROUND Certain bone marrow-derived cell populations, called endothelial progenitor cells, have been reported to possess angiogenic activity. Experimental data suggest that depletion of these angiogenic cell populations may promote atherogenesis, but limited data are available on their relation to subclinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in humans. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied ...

Background The aim of this study was to determine if breast arterial calcification (BAC) on mammography predicts myocardial ischemia (MI) on stress myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (MPS). BAC is a type of medial artery calcification that can be seen incidentally on mammography, but the relationship between coronary artery calcification and MI on MPS is yet unknown...

BACKGROUND Computed tomographic coronary angiography (CTA) is a non-invasive alternative to conventional coronary angiography (CCA) in detecting chronic coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the value of CTA in estimating acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has not been evaluated. METHODS CTA and CCA were performed on 10 patients with non-ST-elevated AMI and 17 patients with stable angina pec...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the correlation between the total heart calcification score index (CSI), assessed by echocardiography, left ventricle mass index (LVMI), Framingham risk score (FRS), and angiographically assessed coronary artery disease (CAD). BACKGROUND Aortic valve and root sclerosis (AVS, ARS) and mitral annular calcium (MAC) detected by echocardiography have been associated with ath...

Vascular calcification (VC) is very common in subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD), especially in hemodialysis (HD) patients, and it is becoming more prevalent with the worsening of kidney function and CKD duration. VC is associated with many adverse clinical outcomes, including ischemic cardiac events and subsequent vascular mortality (1). VC is usually seen in aging, after vascular inju...