The origins and developmental mechanisms of coronary arteries are incompletely understood. We show here by fate mapping, clonal analysis, and immunohistochemistry that endocardial cells generate the endothelium of coronary arteries. Dye tracking, live imaging, and tissue transplantation also revealed that ventricular endocardial cells are not terminally differentiated; instead, they are angioge...

Coronary artery bypass surgery is currently a widely used technique for relief of the effects of coronary atherosclerosis. This disease of coronary arteries is a major cause of death. It has been found that, in the developed countries 25% 30% people become victims of the coronary heart disease, which is described by WHO as the modern epidemic.

1.1 Importance of methods for scoring coronary angiograms to reflect extent and severity of CAD Despite advances in modern medicine, the early detection of patients with obstructive coronary lesions remains an unresolved problem due to frequently occurring atypical, painless, and asymptomatic clinical variants of ischemic heart disease. For example, 80 to 90% of sudden cardiac deaths occur with...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to assess the endothelial function of long-term coronary artery lesions in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD). BACKGROUND The vascular function of the coronary arteries in children with long-term KD remains uncertain. We report our findings of the vascular response of the coronary arteries to intracoronary injection of acetylcholine (ACh) in patients with KD. M...

BACKGROUND Coronary spasm plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease. However, similarities and differences between coronary spasm and atherosclerosis are not known. We examined the angiographic characteristics of coronary spasm in comparison with those of atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-two left anterior descending arteries, 11 left circumflex arteries,...

HYPOTHESIS We examined the hypothesis that a specific myocardial injury marker, namely high sensitive cardiac troponin-I (HsTn-I), is elevated in patients with slow coronary flow (SCF) pattern. AIM To examine the above hypothesis by studying a group of patients who had undergone coronary angiography for the detection of their chest pain aetiology with SCF pattern despite an angiographically n...

anomalies of origin, course, and distribution of coronary arteries, including single coronary artery, are well known in patients with tetralogy of fallot. however, to the best of our knowledge, there is no published case report of pentalogy of fallot with a single coronary artery. herein, we introduce a 22-year-old female patient diagnosed via echocardiography and cardiac catheterization preope...

Research focused on the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular disease is progressing rapidly.1 Radiology has always played a central diagnostic role, particularly in the coronary vessels. A technique for selectively catheterizing the coronary arteries was developed in 1959, and conventional x-ray coronary angiography is still considered the gold standard for detecting c...

AIMS This study was designed to investigate the relationship between insulin resistance and the acetylcholine-induced endothelium-dependent coronary artery response in patients without angiographically significant atherosclerotic coronary artery disease and to elucidate the pathophysiological significance of insulin resistance in the early stages of coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESUL...

Neurofibromatosis, otherwise known as von Recklinghausen disease, is a congenital hereditary disorder involving tissues of neuroectodermal or mesodermal origin. Involvement of the coronary arteries is, however, extremely rare. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first report of off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting using the bilateral internal mammary arteries for coronary arte...