Background: Coronary arteriovenous fistulas (CAVFs) are direct connections from one or more coronary arteries to cardiac chambers or a large vessel. They are mostly of congenital origin. The aim of this study was to describe clinical presentation and also delineate the course and management of CAVF. Methods: Clinical data, chest x-rays, echocardiographic and angiographic evaluation of...

Background—NADH/NADPH oxidase is an important source of superoxide in the vasculature. Recently, we found that polymorphism of the gene p22, a critical component of this oxidase, is associated with a risk of coronary artery disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the localization of p22 in human coronary arteries and to examine its difference in expression between nonatherosclerotic a...

Though rare, anomalous coronary artery disease is a well-known cause of myocardial ischemia and sudden death among children and young adults. The projectional nature of conventional x-ray angiography often leads to difficulty in the definition of anomalous vessels. Studies have now documented the high accuracy of coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) for the noninvasive detection and de...

BACKGROUND Previous studies depict low cardiac event and mortality rates in patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries. These studies, however, are limited by small sample sizes, short follow-up intervals, and selection biases. This study was undertaken to determine the natural five-year course of a diverse cohort of subjects with documented normal coronary arteries with respect to...

Previously we demonstrated that aging in coronary arteries is associated with proinflammatory phenotypic changes and decreased NO bioavailability, which, we hypothesized, promotes vascular disease by enhancing endothelial apoptosis. To test this hypothesis we characterized proapoptotic alterations in the phenotype of coronary arteries of aged (26 mo old) and young (3 mo old) F344 rats. DNA frag...

abstract background and purpose: epicardial fat is the true visceral fat located around the heart, particularly around sub-epicardial coronary arteries that may locally interact and modulate the coronary arteries and myocardium through paracrine or vasocrine secretion of anti-inflammatory and proatherogenic cytokines. most previous studies have used echocardiography and reported controversial r...

a 78-year-old woman was referred for coronary angiography with the chief complaint of exertional angina and dyspnea of a very long duration during routine daily physical activities. she had a history of poorly controlled hypertension and dyslipidemia. coronary angiography revealed diffuse three-vessel disease. interestingly, an unusual branch was noted originating from the mid shaft of the left...

There is a widespread belief that coronary arteries are smaller in Indo-Asians. The aim of the present study was to compare the size of atheroma-free proximal and distal epicardial coronary arteries of Indo-Asians and Caucasians. We analysed normal coronary angiograms from 77 Caucasians and 39 Indo-Asians. The two groups were comparable for dominance of the coronary arteries. Indo-Asian patient...

INTRODUCTION Although acute myocardial infarction is generally associated with obstructive coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction associated with normal coronary arteries is a well-known condition. The overall prevalence rate of myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries is considered to be low, varying from 1% to12% depending on the definition of "normal" coronary arteries. ...