oronary ectasia (CE) is a clinical situation which is characterized by luminal widening of the coronary arteries and the resultant decrease in the coronary blood flow. Its incidence has been reported to be between 0.3% and 4.9% in the autopsy and cardiac catheterization series. 1 Coronary atherosclerosis (50%), congenital diseases (20%), inflammatory diseases (10-20%), collagenous and connective tissue diseases are presumed to be responsible for its cause. 2 The essential histopathological finding in the diagnosis of CE is the replacement of coronary artery media layer smooth muscle cells with hyalinized collagen, as a consequence of the increased degeneration of the media layer. 3 As a result, the loss of musculo-elastic components is observed in the media. 2 Thus, progressive artery dilatation occurs. Moreover, along with this disease, the presence of extracardiac artery dilatation has been reported in the previous studies. 4,5 Arterial stiffness, which is defined as the arterial rigidity caused by the loss of elastic tissue in the artery wall, decreases the widening capacity of the artery. Many studies searching the effects of the cardiovascular risk factors on the arteries showed that, as a consequence of the structural changes in the arteries caused by these risk factors, arterial rigidity develops and arterial widening capacity is deteriorated. It has been established that as the stiffness of the large arteries such as aorta increases, cardiovascular mortality and morbidity also increase. 6 Consequently, aortic stiffness has recently been regarded as a risk factor that needs to be treated. 7 It has also been established that aortic stiffness is increased in individuals with coronary artery disease (CAD) and in those with atherosclerosis and that it is an independent predictor of CAD. 8 In the present study, we reported that there might possibly be a relationship between the increment in aortic stiffness and left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction. 9 In the current study our objective was to investigate the elastic properties of the aorta in the patients with CE and the relationship between these characteristics and LV diastolic functions.
Methods
Study PopulationThe cases were selected from the patients who admitted to our cardiology department for coronary angiography between the years 2001 and 2004. The study population was divided into 3 groups according to the results of the coronary angiograms. A total of 105 patients were enrolled in the present study; in the first group there were 35 patients with CE, the second group consisted of 35 patients with CAD (coronary lesion causing ≥50% luminal narrowing in at least 1 coronary artery) and the third group consisted of 35 patients with normal coronary arteries. CE was defined as localized or diffuse non-obstructive lesions of the epicardial
Aortic Elastic Properties in Patients WithCoronary Artery Ectasia Nurullah Tuzun, MD; Halil Tanriverdi, MD*; Harun Evrengul, MD*; Deniz Seleci Kuru, MD*; Asim Oktay Ergene, MD** Background The purpose of the present...