Accurate diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) has always remained an area of immense interest for cardiology community. Though, invasive coronary angiography (ICA) has remained gold standard for anatomic diagnosis of CAD, there are continuous attempts to develop non-invasive approaches with high fidelity. For years together, stress testing remained at forefront of non-invasive evaluation ...

AIMS To evaluate the diagnostic power of abnormal global longitudinal strain (GLS) to detect non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in the resting echocardiogram. GLS using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D STE) is a powerful tool for detecting advanced CAD. However, the diagnostic power of 2D STE for detecting moderate, clinically unapparent CAD from images obtained ...

Abstract Background Normal coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) and positron emission (PET) are associated with an excellent prognosis. Hitherto, data on the warranty period of normal CTA myocardial blood flow (MBF) by PET scarce. Purpose To determine event-free after results. In addition, to whether MBF imaging confers additional prognostic value beyond anatomy in symptomatic patient...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To examine the association of occult atherosclerosis of carotid, femoral, and popliteal arteries with the presence and severity of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients without a history or presence of cerebrovascular or peripheral arterial disease using ultrasound examination of peripheral arteries. PATIENTS/METHODS One hundred eighty-four such individuals un...

AIMS Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) has a high accuracy for detection of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Several studies also showed a good predictive value for subsequent cardiac events. However, the follow-up period of these studies was limited to ~2 years and long-term follow-up data on prognosis out to 5 years are very limited. METHODS AND RESULTS This study is...

AIMS High sensitive-C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is associated with coronary risk, which may be explained by an association with (unstable) coronary artery disease (CAD). Until now, histopathological and angiographic studies have failed to consistently demonstrate a strong relationship. However, most of these studies were limited by a cross-sectional design. Our aim was to prospectively evaluate...

BACKGROUND The incremental value of CAC over traditional risk factors to predict coronary vasodilator dysfunction and inherent myocardial blood flow (MBF) impairment is only scarcely documented (MBF). The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the relationship between CAC content, hyperemic MBF, and coronary flow reserve (CFR) in patients undergoing hybrid (15)O-water PET/CT imaging. MET...

BACKGROUND The optimal initial noninvasive diagnostic testing strategy for stable coronary artery disease (CAD) is unknown. Although American guidelines recommend an exercise stress test as the first-line test, European guidelines suggest that stress imaging (myocardial perfusion imaging or stress echocardiography) or coronary computed tomography angiography may be preferable. Understanding the...

The primary use of coronary artery calcium scoring has been in its ability to predict coronary artery disease (CAD) events in generally asymptomatic patients and to provide incremental risk stratification beyond the use of traditional clinical risk factor assessment. Thresholds of calcium burden, as determined by the area-density scoring or Agatston scoring method, on the basis of age, sex, and...

BACKGROUND Clinical trials have shown that statin therapy reduces cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), even among patients with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels <100 mg/dL. We sought to determine the extent to which patients with obstructive CAD in routine outpatient care are treated with statins, nonstatins, or no lipid-lowering thera...