BACKGROUND Wide variation exists in the detection rate of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) with elective coronary angiography for suspected stable ischemic heart disease. We sought to understand the incremental impact of nonclinical factors on this variation. METHODS AND RESULTS We included all patients who underwent coronary angiography for possible suspected stable ischemic heart d...

BACKGROUND Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is often the first presentation of ischemic heart disease; however, there is limited information on SCD among women with and without obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). We evaluated SCD incidence in the WISE (Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation) study. METHODS AND RESULTS Overall, 904 women with suspected ischemic heart disease with preserved ejec...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to determine the prognostic value of multislice computed tomography (MSCT) coronary angiography in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). BACKGROUND It is expected that MSCT will be used increasingly as an alternative imaging modality in the diagnosis of patients with suspected CAD. Data on the prognostic value of MSCT, however, are curren...

BACKGROUND Troponin elevation is a risk factor for mortality in patients with non-ST-segment-elevation acute coronary syndromes. However, the prognosis of patients with troponin elevation and nonobstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) is unknown. Our objective was therefore to evaluate the impact of nonobstructive CAD in patients with non-ST-segment-elevation acute coronary syndromes and trop...

BACKGROUND Mathematical modeling of perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) data allows absolute quantification of myocardial blood flow and can potentially improve the diagnosis and prognostication of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), against the current clinical standard of visual assessments. This study compares the diagnostic performance of distributed parameter modeling ...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy and one year prognosis of whole chest, "multiple rule out" CT for coronary artery disease (CAD) in Emergency Department patients. METHODS AND FINDINGS One hundred and two Emergency Department patients at low to intermediate risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), pulmonary embolism and/or acute aortic syndrome underwent a ...

Malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde adducts (MAA) have been implicated in atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of MAA in atherosclerotic disease. Serum samples from controls (n = 82) and patients with; non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), (n = 40), acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (n = 42), or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery due to obstructive m...

BACKGROUND CC chemokine ligands (CCLs) are elevated during acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and correlate with secondary events. Their involvement in plaque inflammation led us to investigate whether CCL3-5-18 are linked to the extent of coronary artery disease (CAD) and prognostic for primary events during follow-up. METHODS We measured CCL3-5-18 serum concentrations in 712 patients with chest ...

Background The diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with LBBB represents a clinical challenge. The presence of fragmented QRS (fQRS) complex on surface ECG may be related to myocardial ischemia, scarring or fibrosis. Objectives To investigate the relation between fQRS and the presence and severity of CAD in patients with LBBB. Patients and methods 56 patients with symptoms...

BACKGROUND Electron beam CT (EBCT) is an accurate, noninvasive method to detect and quantify coronary artery calcification, a marker of coronary artery disease (CAD). This investigation examined the accuracy of EBCT to detect obstructive CAD (> or =50% stenosis) and determined the optimal strata for quantity of coronary artery calcification to facilitate clinical decision-making. METHODS AND ...