BACKGROUND There are controversies regarding the usefulness of coronary artery calcium score (CACS) for predicting coronary artery stenosis. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of CACS for determining the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with sign and symptoms of the disease. MATERIAL/METHODS In this cross-sectional study, 748 consecut...

BACKGROUND A diastolic coronary flow murmur has been reported for patients with coronary stenoses, yet is rarely appreciated during routine auscultation. We hypothesized that an ultrasonic Doppler method can detect the epicardial vibrations associated with this murmur. Ultrasonic Doppler vibrometry is a pulsed wave echocardiography phase demodulation technique designed for detecting vibrations....

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES To determine whether the reproducibility of left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) area measurement is greater with three-dimensional echocardiographic (3D-echo) planimetry than with conventional 2D-echo. To determine the LVOT circularity index by means of 3D-echo. To determine the usefulness of measuring the LVOT area by 3D-echo for quantifying the severity of valvul...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to analyze, in the same group of patients, the relationship between multiple variables of coronary lesion and results of exercise, dobutamine and dipyridamole stress echocardiography tests. BACKGROUND Integrated evaluation of the relation between stress echocardiography results and angiographic variables should include not only the assessment of stenosis s...

INTRODUCTION The severity of coronary artery stenosis which leads to myocardial infarction (MI) has been a matter of controversy. Historical data are in favor of mild luminal stenosis (<50% diameter stenosis) while recent studies suggest hemodynamically-significant coronary stenosis as the main substrate for subsequent MI. Also, mechanical stress resulted from coronary artery movement (CAM) may...

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can be used for the assessment of aortic stenosis in terms of both anatomic and hemodynamic measures of stenosis severity and for evaluation of the left ventricular response to valvular obstruction. In addition, CMR-based assessment of aortic flow patterns has been implicated in poststenotic ascending aortic aneurysm development. In this issue of Circula...

It is standard practice for clinicians to consider echocardiographically-measured left ventricular wall thickness when estimating the severity of aortic stenosis. Most consider the degree of wall thickness above normal limits is in proportion to ventricular hypertrophy. Employment of wall thickness information to assess aortic stenosis severity, while generally reliable, can occasionally be mis...

background: considering the increasing incidence of coronary artery stenosis and its related complications, the importance of its etiology and inconsistent reports we aimed to determine the relationship between oxysterol, serum levels and severity of coronary atherosclerosis and effect of statins on oxysterol.  methods: a total of 85 patients referred to taleghani hospital, tehran, iran during ...

Coronary arterial flow can be described in terms of an intramyocardial pump that displaces blood backward and forward during systole and diastole, which is termed diastolic predominant flow. When the diastolic predominant flow runs through the stenotic arteries, the geometric characteristics and mechanical properties of these arteries may influence the flow. We have developed an experimental sy...

VISUAL interpretations of coronary arteriograms are marked by such great interobserver and intraobserver variability (Bjork et al., 1975; Detre et al., 1975; Zir et al., 1976; DeRouen et al., 1977; Meyers et al., 1978) that comparison of arteriograms from different subjects, or at different times in the same subject, are of limited value for assessing severity, changes in severity, or functiona...