At rest, myocardial perfusion is reasonably well matched to regional metabolic demand, although both are heterogeneously distributed. Nonuniform regional metabolic vulnerability during coronary stenosis would help to explain nonuniform necrosis during myocardial infarction. We investigated two questions: (1) does the metabolism-perfusion correlation diminish during coronary stenosis? (2) is hig...

OBJECTIVES To validate intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) measurements for differentiating functionally significant from nonsignificant coronary stenosis. BACKGROUND To date, there are no validated criteria for the definition of a flow-limiting coronary artery stenosis by IVUS. METHODS Preinterventional IVUS imaging (30-MHz imaging catheter) of 70 de novo coronary lesions was performed. The le...

BACKGROUND For diagnosis of significant coronary artery stenosis, the most accurate parameter among the conventional echocardiographic parameters remains unknown. OBJECTIVES To assess the diagnostic efficacy of conventional echocardiographic parameters in the diagnosis of significant coronary artery stenosis and their correlation with the percentage of stenosis considering conventional corona...

In patients with valvar heart disease detection of coronary artery disease by conventional non-invasive methods may be difficult. The usefulness of thallium-201 exercise scintigraphy for detecting coronary artery disease was evaluated in 16 patients with aortic stenosis, 17 with aortic regurgitation, nine with mitral stenosis, and six with mitral regurgitation who were investigated by coronary ...

OBJECTIVES This study examined the performance of percent aggregate plaque volume (%APV), which represents cumulative plaque volume as a function of total vessel volume, by coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) for identification of ischemic lesions of intermediate stenosis severity. BACKGROUND Coronary lesions of intermediate stenosis demonstrate significant rates of ischemia. Coron...

Previous studies have demonstrated competition between sympathetic alpha receptor-mediated coronary vasoconstriction and local metabolic vasodilation during sympathetic activation. The present study tested if this competition also occurs in the presence of coronary stenosis. In closed-chest dogs, the left coronary artery was cannulated, and blood flow from the aorta was restricted by a moderate...

A rare clinical variant of angina manifestation as part the coronary steal syndrome in a patient with prior bilateral artery bypass grafting and subtotal brachiocephalic trunk stenosis is considered.

OBJECTIVES This study was designed to evaluate whether the absence of coronary calcium could rule out >or=50% coronary stenosis or the need for revascularization. BACKGROUND The latest American Heart Association guidelines suggest that a calcium score (CS) of zero might exclude the need for coronary angiography among symptomatic patients. METHODS A substudy was made of the CORE64 (Coronary ...

BACKGROUND The number of elderly patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer is increasing. In this study, we assessed the usefulness of three-dimensional computed tomographicangiography (3D-CTA) for the detection of coronary disease in the elderly before surgical intervention for lung cancer. METHODS One hundred twenty patients admitted to our institution for lung cancer resection were enrol...

Coronary atherectomy and coronary stenting effectively reduce the severity of coronary artery stenoses, but direct comparisons of these interventions with conventional balloon angioplasty have not been performed. To compare the immediate efficacy of these 3 interventions, the angiographic morphology and the severity of the residual coronary stenosis were quantitatively evaluated in 18 patients ...