OBJECTIVE To identify clinical characteristics associated with the minimum lumen area (MLA) of proximal or middle intermediate lesions in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, and to develop a model to predict MLA. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed demographic data, medical history, and intravascular ultrasound findings for 90 patients with intermediate lesions in the LAD artery. Linea...

We present a case of a 57-year-old man, with a history of heavy smoking, noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and untreated hypercholesterolemia. He was complaining for typical angina on effort which started one month ago. He had a treadmill stress test which was terminated very early because of angina and ECG changes evident of myocardial ischemia. Coronary angiogram showed diffuse d...

Abstract Background Coronary ostial lesions are a rare entity and isolated coronary stenosis is even less frequent. Diffuse artery atherosclerosis the main cause for non-isolated stenosis, based on old post-mortem series histological analysis of tissue removed during atherectomies. Case presentation A 49-year-old woman suffering from mild non-familial hypercholesterolemia reported to her family...

Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency I (LAD-I) is a primary immunodeficiency caused by single gene mutations in the CD18 subunit of β2 integrins which result in defective transmigration of neutrophils into the tissues. Affected patients suffer from recurrent life threatening infections and severe oral disease (periodontitis). Microbial communities in the local environment (subgingival plaque) are thou...

OBJECTIVES The study evaluated the value of coronary flow velocity measurement by transthoracic color Doppler echocardiography (TTCDE) for the noninvasive diagnosis of restenosis after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) for left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) lesions. BACKGROUND Recent advances in TTCDE provide coronary flow velocity measurements in the LAD under...

A 57 year-old man, obese, with history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking and two previous ischemic strokes, was admitted with a six month history of chest pain associated with dyspnea on moderate and large efforts. He was hemodynamically stable and making use of captopril, aspirin, hydrochlorothiazide and metroprolol. There was no mention of chest murmur in the hospital admission record. A...

OBJECTIVES Coronary endarterectomy has been shown to be an effective adjunctive technique of revascularization for diffuse coronary artery disease. A long arteriotomy and reconstruction of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) are occasionally required for complete extraction of the atherosclerotic plaque. The aim of this study was to examine early and late results of this technique and com...

Introduction: Although coronary endarterectomy is not an ideal procedure, it is the only available option for cardiac surgeons in some patients with diffuse coronary artery disease. Based on the majority of conducted studies, the results of coronary endarterectomy (including survival, graft patency, and recurrence of the symptoms of myocardial ischemia) are less prevalent than standard coronary...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that lesions in proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) may develop more restenosis after balloon angioplasty than lesions in other coronary segments. However, stenting seems to have reduced this gap. In this study, we compared outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on proximal LAD versus proximal left circumflex (LCX) or righ...