AIMS To determine the association between coronary vessel wall morphology and haemodynamic consequences to the myocardium using a combined cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging protocol. Non-invasive CMR profiling of coronary atherosclerotic wall changes and related myocardial blood flow impairment has not been established yet. METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty-three patients (45 men, 61.5 ...

Coronary vascular remodeling and altered endothelial function have been described in the early stages of native atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between cholesterol-lowering therapy and coronary vascular remodeling and endothelial function in patients with normal or mildly diseases coronary arteries. Patients (N=101) with normal or mildly diseased coron...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) among South Asians (SAs) significantly exceeds that of Caucasians. South Asians also suffer from more premature, clinically aggressive and angiographically extensive (3-vessel) disease. The role of conventional CAD risk factors (CCRFs) remains controversial. OBJECTIVES We sought to determine if the CCRF burdens of SA immigrants differ...

We studied the relation between the ischemic threshold at the onset of wall motion abnormality on exercise echocardiography (EE) and the severity of coronary stenosis in patients with 1-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD). We screened 216 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography and EE for suspected CAD. Ninety-five (74 men; age, 56 +/- 12 years) satisfied the study criteria, th...

Thallium-201 scintigraphy of the exercised myocardium was performed in 70 male patients admitted for coronary arteriography and left-ventricular angiography. Left ventricular scintigrams were collected in left lateral, left anterior oblique (65 degrees, 45 degrees, and 25 degrees), and anterior views, and the images were divided into eight segments: apical, anteroseptal, anterior, antero-latera...

BACKGROUND Delays are important markers of quality of care in primary percutaneous coronary intervention. There is scarce data on the impact of obtaining a complete diagnostic angiography before primary percutaneous coronary intervention. METHODS AND RESULTS Consecutive patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention at our institution between January 2012 and December 2014 w...

RATIONALE The proepicardium is a transient structure comprising epicardial progenitor cells located at the posterior limit of the embryonic cardiac inflow. A network of signals regulates proepicardial cell fate and defines myocardial and nonmyocardial domains at the venous pole of the heart. During cardiac development, epicardial-derived cells also contribute to coronary vessel morphogenesis. ...

BACKGROUND If transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is to play a role in coronary diagnostics, satisfactory image documentation of the coronary status is indispensable so that the requirements for validity and quality assurance of a medical examination can be met. Our goal was to develop a suitable and valid procedure for imaging coronary arteries with 2D TEE. METHODS AND RESULTS After pilot...

Coronary bifurcations represent specific regions of the arterial tree that are susceptible to atherosclerotic lesions. While the effects of vessel compliance, curvature, pulsatile blood flow, and cardiac motion on coronary endothelial shear stress have been widely explored, the effects of myocardial contraction on arterial wall stress/strain (WS/S) and vessel stiffness distributions remain uncl...