OBJECTIVES We sought to determine clinical and laboratory correlates of calcification of the coronary arteries (CAs), aorta and mitral and aortic valves in adult subjects with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) receiving hemodialysis. BACKGROUND Vascular calcification is known to be a risk factor for ischemic heart disease in non-uremic individuals. Patients with ESRD experience accelerated vascu...

There is some disparity in the morbidity and mortality rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) according to race, ethnicity, and geographic regions. Although prediction algorithms that evaluate risk of cardiovascular events have been established using traditional risk factors, they have also demonstrated a number of differences along with race and ethnicity. Of various risk assessment modalities,...

Objective—Ischemic heart disease mortality is lower in hemophilia patients than in the general male population. As coagulation plays a role in the inflammatory pathways involved in atherogenesis, we investigated whether the clotting factor deficiency protects hemophilia patients from developing atherosclerosis. Methods and Results—Coronary artery calcification, measured with multidetector-row c...

BACKGROUND Ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP1) generates inorganic pyrophosphate, a solute that serves as an essential physiological inhibitor of calcification. Inactivating mutations of ENPP1 are associated with generalized calcification in infancy and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We hypothesized that the ENPP1 K121Q variant may be ass...

OBJECTIVE Ischemic heart disease mortality is lower in hemophilia patients than in the general male population. As coagulation plays a role in the inflammatory pathways involved in atherogenesis, we investigated whether the clotting factor deficiency protects hemophilia patients from developing atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS Coronary artery calcification, measured with multidetector-row...

Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease After Heart Transplantation To the Editor: In their study of electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) for the assessment of coronary artery disease in heart transplantation, Knollmann et al1 noted a significant discrepancy between the amount of calcification measured by EBCT and that measured by intracoronary ultrasound. In their discussion, they suggest a ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of aging on the changes to the structure and function of coronary arteries in senile elderly patients with essential hypertension. Patients (aged 60-80 years) were divided into three groups. The 195 hypertensive patients were divided into four sub-groups according to the duration of hypertension. The changes to the coronary arteries (left and rig...

AIMS Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are currently the most frequently used drug to prevent ischaemic stroke in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. However, VKA use has been associated with increased vascular calcification. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of VKA use to coronary artery calcification in low-risk AF patients. METHODS AND RESULTS A prospective coronary calciu...

BACKGROUND Our aim was to compare the electron-beam CT (EBCT) features of coronary arteries in heart transplant recipients with those of biplane coronary angiography and intracoronary ultrasound (ICUS). METHODS AND RESULTS We examined 112 heart transplant recipients (25 female; age, 17 to 69 years; median, 52 years) 1 to 153 months (median, 46 months) after surgery by EBCT to detect coronary ...

coronary artery calcium scoring (cacs) is a reasonable test for patients with the possibility of atherosclerosis. it can also be used for reclassifying the coronary artery disease (cad) to the high-risk status by higher cacs and subsequently modifying the management of the patients.the purpose of this study was to investigate the association of cacs to the severity of coronary artery disease in...