To help determine if coronary angiography can predict the site of a future coronary occlusion that will produce a myocardial infarction, the coronary angiograms of 42 consecutive patients who had undergone coronary angiography both before and up to a month after suffering an acute myocardial infarction were evaluated. Twenty-nine patients had a newly occluded coronary artery. Twenty-five of the...

OBJECTIVE Ischemic heart disease is a pivotal complication for diabetic patients. Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) represents the only noninvasive method that allows for accurate quantification of coronary artery calcification that reflects underlying atherosclerotic disease. Although coronary calcium score (CCS) cut points that predict the presence of angiographic stenosis have been es...

large intercoronary communications in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease constitute a very rare coronary artery anomaly in which there is a readily visible connection between the 2 coronary arteries with a unidirectional or bidirectional blood flow; consequently, this anomaly may be misinterpreted as a functioning collateral vessel, indicative of an unrecognized proximal coronar...

This study tested the hypothesis that myocardial tissue acidosis is responsible for maintenance of reduced arteriolar tone distal to a severe coronary arterial stenosis. Domestic swine (n=10) were instrumented with a coronary arterial stenosis that reduced vessel diameter 80%. Measurements of hemodynamic indexes were made 1) before stenosis, 2) at 5, 20, and 60 minutes after stenosis placement,...

This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between coronary stenosis and left ventricular function using dual-source computed tomography (DSCT). DSCT coronary angiography (CAG) was performed on 66 patients with coronary disease and 36 healthy volunteers. The degree of coronary stenosis, end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF) and myoca...

The presence of a coronary stenosis results primarily in subendocardial ischemia. Apart from the decrease in coronary perfusion pressure, a stenosis also decreases coronary flow pulsations. Applying a coronary perfusion system, we compared the autoregulatory response of subendocardial (n = 10) and subepicardial (n = 12) arterioles (<120 microm) after stepwise decreases in coronary arterial pres...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to retrospectively analyze the clinical course and postoperative long-term survival of patients diagnosed with isolated left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenosis after surgical revascularization. METHODS A total of 38 patients (27 males, 11 females) who were diagnosed with isolated LMCA stenosis and underwent surgical revascularization were enrolled i...

BACKGROUND A diastolic coronary flow murmur has been reported for patients with coronary stenoses, yet is rarely appreciated during routine auscultation. We hypothesized that an ultrasonic Doppler method can detect the epicardial vibrations associated with this murmur. Ultrasonic Doppler vibrometry is a pulsed wave echocardiography phase demodulation technique designed for detecting vibrations....

OBJECTIVE Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a valid surrogate for hemodynamic significance in stenotic native coronary arteries, but its validity in patients with coronary stent restenosis is unknown. DESIGN Prospective. SETTING University hospital. PATIENTS We studied 42 patients (mean age +/- 1 SD, 62 +/- 10 years) with stent restenosis and 57 patients (mean age, 61 +/- 12 years) with a ...

BACKGROUND Multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) is a fast-growing technology that permits a non-invasive, yet reliable, assessment of coronary atherosclerosis. We sought to explore the diagnostic accuracy of MSCT angiography in the detection of significant stenosis of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) in a series of patients with an intermediate pre-test likelihood of coronary artery disea...