OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to analyze, in the same group of patients, the relationship between multiple variables of coronary lesion and results of exercise, dobutamine and dipyridamole stress echocardiography tests. BACKGROUND Integrated evaluation of the relation between stress echocardiography results and angiographic variables should include not only the assessment of stenosis s...

Kawasaki Disease (KD) is an acute, febrile, multisystem disease of children. More severe complications in 15-25% of cases include, the development of coronary aneurysms, ischemic heart disease, and sudden cardiac death. The standard treatment for significant coronary artery stenosis has generally been aortocoronary bypass surgery, although percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) h...

Percutaneous aortic valvuloplasty is reportedly a useful tool for the management of critical and severe aortic stenosis with cardiogenic shock. However, early percutaneous coronary intervention for cardiogenic shock is beneficial for elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction. We describe a patient with critical aortic stenosis who presented with severe coronary stenosis of the left main...

Introduction Quantitative myocardial perfusion to assess impaired coronary vasoreactivity has been used to identify subclinical atherosclerosis. Impaired coronary vasodilation has been observed in patients with cardiac risk factors in the MESA cohort. The coronary vasodilator response in patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries/ minimal stenosis is not known. The purpose of this ...

Background Our study compares the effect of acute proximal stenosis of a coronary artery supplying a myocardial perfusion bed with that of stenosis of an adjacent artery resulting in collateral flow diversion supplied by the same perfusion bed. These alterations in coronary physiology were quantified by digital angiographic impulse response analysis of contrast material mean transit time for th...

BACKGROUND Coronary heart disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in stroke patients. The coronary artery calcium score (CACS) has emerged as a robust and noninvasive predictor of coronary events. We assessed the predictive ability of CACS to identify stroke patients with severe (≥50%) occult coronary artery stenosis in a stroke/transient ischemic attack population, in additio...

We present a case of a patient who presented with chest pain, and on diagnostic coronary angiography appeared to have a grossly angulated yet significant coronary stenosis. This was proven to be an artefactual appearance on further assessment with intravascular ultrasound imaging. We describe the causes and associations of coronary tortuosity with other arteriopathy, and highlight challenges in...

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is usually considered a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients who have had a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Although recurrent strokes occur more commonly than cardiac events over the long term after stroke, cardiac events still account for a greater proportion of mortality. Identifying severe occult coronary artery stenosis, in part...

Our purpose was to study morphological, functional, and metabolic changes induced by chronic ischemia in myocardium supplied by the stenotic vessel and in the remote area by MR techniques. A new technique of image fusion is proposed for analysis of coronary artery stenosis involving coronary MR angiography and spectroscopic imaging. Cine-MRI was performed 2 wk after induction of coronary stenos...