Extrinsic compression of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) secondary to pulmonary artery dilatation is a rare syndrome. Most cases of pulmonary artery hypertension but no atherosclerotic risk factors rarely undergo coronary angiography, and hence, diagnoses are seldom made and proper management is often delayed in these patients. We describe a patient that presented with pulmonary hypertension, clinical angina, and extrinsic compression of the LMCA by the pulmonary artery, who was treated successfully by percutaneous coronary intervention. Follow-up coronary angiography showed patent stent in the LMCA in the proximity of the dilated main pulmonary artery. This case reminds us that coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention should be considered in pulmonary hypertension patients presenting with angina or left ventricular dysfunction.
Angina Pectoris/etiology ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Stenosis/radiography/therapy ; Coronary Vessels/radiography/*ultrasonography ; Dilatation, Pathologic ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary/etiology/radiography ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Artery/radiography/*ultrasonography ; Stents ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left

PURPOSE: When performing coronary angiography (CAG), diagnostic catheter intubation to the ostium can cause damping of the pressure tracing. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of atherosclerotic ostial stenosis in patients showing pressure damping during CAG. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 2926 patients who underwent diagnostic CAG were screened in this study. Pressure damping was defined as an abrupt decline of the coronary blood pressure with a blunted pulse pressure after engagement of the diagnostic catheter. According to CAG and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), we divided damped ostia into two groups: atherosclerotic ostial lesion group (true lesion group) and non-atherosclerotic ostium group (false lesion group). Clinical and angiographic characteristics were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The overall incidence of pressure damping was 2.3% (68 patients and 76 ostia). Among the pressure damped ostia, 40.8% (31 of 76 ostia) were true atherosclerotic ostial lesions (true lesion group). The true lesion group had more frequent left main ostial damping and more percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) performed on non-ostial lesions, compared to the false lesion group. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, left main ostial damping [hazard ratio (HR) 4.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.24-13.67, p=0.021] and PCI on non-ostial lesion (HR 5.34, 95% CI 1.34-21.27, p=0.018) emerged as independent predictors for true atherosclerotic ostial lesions in patients with pressure damping. CONCLUSION: Left main ostial damping and the presence of a non-ostial atherosclerotic lesion may suggest a significant true atherosclerotic lesion in the coronary ostium.
Aged ; *Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease/etiology/*radiography ; Coronary Occlusion/diagnosis/*therapy ; Coronary Stenosis/etiology/*radiography ; Coronary Vessel Anomalies/radiography ; Coronary Vessels/*pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention/adverse effects/methods ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Radiography, Interventional

Contrast-enhanced multi-detector row spiral computed tomography (MDCT) was introduced as a promising noninvasive method for vascular imaging. This study examined the accuracy of this technique for detecting significant coronary artery stenoses. Both MDCT (Sensation 16, Siemens, Germany, 12 x 0.75 mm collimation and 0.42 sec rotation speed, 120 kV, 500 effective mA, and 2.7 mm/rotation table-feed) and invasive coronary angiography (CAG) were performed on 61 patients (mean age 59.2 +/- 10, 44 men) who were suspected of having coronary artery disease. All patients were treated with atenolol (25 - 50 mg) prior to imaging and the heart rate was maintained below 65 beats per minutes during image acquisition. The images were reconstructed in the diastole around TI - 400 ms with a 0.5 mm increment and a 1.0 mm thickness. All coronary arteries with a diameter of 2.0 mm or more were assessed for the presence of a stenosis (> 50% luminal narrowing). Two independent radiologists who were unaware of the results of the invasive CAG evaluated the MDCT data, and the results were compared with those from the invasive CAG (interval 1- 27, mean 11 days). An evaluation of the CT coronary angiogram (CTCA) was possible in 58 of the 61 patients (95%). Image acquisition of the major coronary arteries including the left main trunk was available in 229 out of 244 arteries. Invasive CAG showed that 35 out of 58 patients had significant coronary artery stenoses by. patient analysis of those who could be evaluated showed that CT coronary angiography correctly classified 30 out of 35 patients as having at least 1 coronary stenosis (sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 91.3%, positive predictive value 93.8%, negative predictive value 80.8%). By analyzing each coronary artery, CAG found 62 stenotic coronary arteries in the 229 coronary arteries that could be evaluated. MDCT correctly detected 50 out of 62 stenotic coronary arteries and an absence of stenosis was correctly identified in 156 out of 167 normal coronary arteries (sensitivity 80.6%, specificity 93.4%, positive predictive value 81.9%, negative predictive value 92.8%). The non-invasive technique of MDCT for examining the coronary artery appears to be a useful method for detecting coronary artery stenoses with a high accuracy particularly with the proximal portion and large arteries.
Aged ; Coronary Stenosis/*radiography ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; *Tomography, Spiral Computed/standards

OBJECTIVE: We wanted to compare the transaxial source images with the optimized three plane, thin-slab maximum intensity projection (MIP) images from electrocardiographic (ECG)-gated cardiac CT for their ability to detect hemodynamically significant stenosis (HSS), and we did this by means of performing a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with a heart rate less than 66 beats per minute and who were undergoing both retrospective ECG-gated cardiac CT and conventional coronary angiography were included in this study. The contrast-enhanced CT scans were obtained with a collimation of 16x0.75-mm and a rotation time of 420 msec. The transaxial images were reconstructed at the mid-diastolic phase with a 1-mm slice thickness and a 0.5-mm increment. Using the transaxial images, the slab MIP images were created with a 4-mm thickness and a 2-mm increment, and they covered the entire heart in the horizontal long axis (4 chamber view), in the vertical long axis (2 chamber view) and in the short axis. The transaxial images and MIP images were independently evaluated for their ability to detect HSS. Conventional coronary angiograms of the same study group served as the standard of reference. Four radiologists were requested to rank each image with using a five-point scale (1 = definitely negative, 2 = probably negative, 3 = indeterminate, 4 = probably positive, and 5 = definitely positive) for the presence of HSS; the data were then interpreted using ROC analysis. RESULTS: There was no statistical difference in the area under the ROC curve between transaxial images and MIP images for the detection of HSS (0.8375 and 0.8708, respectively; p > 0.05). The mean reading time for the transaxial source images and the MIP images was 116 and 126.5 minutes, respectively. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic performance of the MIP images for detecting HSS of the coronary arteries is acceptable and this technique's ability to detect HSS is comparable to that of the transaxial source images.
Tomography, X-Ray Computed/*methods ; Retrospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Middle Aged ; Male ; *Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Humans ; Heart Rate ; Female ; Electrocardiography ; Coronary Stenosis/*radiography ; Coronary Angiography ; Aged ; Adult

Despite the noninvasiveness and accuracy of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT), its use as a routine screening tool for occult coronary atherosclerosis is unclear. We investigated whether the ratio of apolipoprotein B (apoB) to apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1), an indicator of the balance between atherogenic and atheroprotective cholesterol transport could predict occult coronary atherosclerosis detected by MDCT. We collected the data of 1,401 subjects (877 men and 524 women) who participated in a routine health screening examination of Asan Medical Center. Significant coronary artery stenosis defined as > 50% stenosis was detected in 114 subjects (8.1%). An increase in apoB/A1 quartiles was associated with increased percentages of subjects with significant coronary stenosis and noncalcified plaques (NCAP). After adjustment for confounding variables, each 0.1 increase in serum apoB/A1 was significantly associated with increased odds ratios (ORs) for coronary stenosis and NCAP of 1.23 and 1.18, respectively. The optimal apoB/A1 ratio cut off value for MDCT detection of significant coronary stenosis was 0.58, which had a sensitivity of 70.2% and a specificity of 48.2% (area under the curve, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.58-0.63, P < 0.001). Our results indicate that apoB/A1 ratio is a good indicator of occult coronary atherosclerosis detected by coronary MDCT.
Adult ; Aged ; Apolipoprotein A-I/*blood ; Apolipoproteins B/*blood ; Area Under Curve ; Carotid Stenosis/*radiography ; Coronary Stenosis/*radiography ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; ROC Curve ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) for evaluation of acute chest pain in real world population, we prospectively enrolled 296 patients with acute chest pain at emergency department (ED) from November 2005 to February 2007. The patients were grouped based on the clinical information and CTCA result. The patients with a low risk profile and no significant coronary stenosis (>50%) in CTCA were discharged immediately (Group 1, n=103). On the other hand, the patients with an intermediate risk profile without significant stenosis were observed in ED for 24 hr (Group 2, n=104). The patients with significant stenosis underwent further coronary evaluation and management accordingly (Group 3, n=89). While no false negative case was found in Group 1, seven cases (6.73%) were found in Group 2, mostly during the observation period. In Group 3, there were 54 (60.67%) cases of acute coronary syndrome including 10 myocardial infarctions. The overall accuracy of CTCA for acute coronary syndrome was 88.5% (sensitivity), 85.1% (specificity), 60.7% (positive predictive value) and 96.6% (negative predictive value). In conclusion, clinical decision based on CTCA is safe and effective for low risk patients. Further validation is needed in patients with intermediate risk profile.
Adult ; Aged ; *Chest Pain/diagnosis/etiology/radiography ; Coronary Angiography/*methods ; Coronary Stenosis/radiography ; Decision Making ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/*methods

We aimed to investigate the significance of microalbuminuria and its relationship with subclinical atherosclerosis in nonhypertensive and nondiabetic patients, by using coronary artery computed tomography (CT). A total of 1,318 nonhypertensive and nondiabetic subjects who had taken coronary artery CT and measured spot urine albumin to creatinine ratio (UACR) were evaluated. The atherosclerotic changes of coronary arteries were greater in subjects with microalbuminuria, reflected by coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and significant coronary artery stenosis (CACS > or = 100 in 15.3% vs 7.6% and stenosis > or = 50% in 11.5% vs 4.9% of patients with vs without microalbuminuria, P = 0.008 and P = 0.011, respectively). Among various parameters that are known as a risk factor or possible biomarkers of coronary artery disease, presence of microalbuminuria, age and Framingham risk score were significantly related to coronary artery stenosis. Among them the presence of microalbuminuria showed stronger correlation than others to the coronary artery stenosis detected by CT, even after adjusting confounding factors (OR 3.397, 95% confidence interval 1.138 to 10.140, P = 0.028). The presence of microalbuminuria by UACR was significantly associated with presence of coronary artery stenosis > or = 50% in asymptomatic, nonhypertensive and nondiabetic general population. Our study suggests that the presence of microalbuminuria may imply subclinical coronary artery disease, even in asymptomatic population.
Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Albuminuria/*complications ; Blood Pressure ; Calcium/analysis ; Coronary Artery Disease/complications/*radiography ; Coronary Stenosis/complications ; Coronary Vessels/chemistry ; Creatinine/urine ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sex Factors ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Diabetes mellitus is responsible for diverse cardiovascular complications such as accelerated atherosclerosis, increased plaque burden and diffuse coronary lesions. It is also a major risk factor for myocardial infarction, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. Here, we present two cases. The first patient had subtle changes in the ECGs, with severe coronary artery disease requiring coronary artery bypass grafting, while the second had deep T wave inversion in the ECG and was found to have normal coronary arteries and nonischaemic cardiomyopathy. Although ECG failed to show the severity of the disease, it is invaluable as a simple, noninvasive test to aid in diagnosis. Our two cases stress the importance of a high index of suspicion and the low threshold for investigations in the diabetic population.
Aged ; Biomarkers ; analysis ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Stenosis ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Diabetes Complications ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; surgery ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Edema ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Radiography, Thoracic

Trans-radial (TR) approach is increasingly recognized as an alternative to the routine use of trans-femoral (TF) approach. However, there are limited data comparing the outcomes of these two approaches for the treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions. We evaluated outcomes of TR and TF percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in this complex lesion. Procedural outcomes and clinical events were compared in 1,668 patients who underwent PCI for non-left main bifurcation lesions, according to the vascular approach, either TR (n = 503) or TF (n = 1,165). The primary outcome was major adverse cardiac events (MACE), including cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), and target lesion revascularization (TLR) in all patients and in 424 propensity-score matched pairs of patients. There were no significant differences between TR and TF approaches for procedural success in the main vessel (99.6% vs 98.6%, P = 0.08) and side branches (62.6% vs 66.7%, P = 0.11). Over a mean follow-up of 22 months, cardiac death or MI (1.8% vs 2.2%, P = 0.45), TLR (4.0% vs 5.2%, P = 0.22), and MACE (5.2% vs 7.0%, P = 0.11) did not significantly differ between TR and TF groups, respectively. These results were consistent after propensity score-matched analysis. In conclusion, TR PCI is a feasible alternative approach to conventional TF approaches for bifurcation PCI (clinicaltrials.gov number: NCT00851526).
Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary/adverse effects/*methods ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Stenosis/mortality/radiography/*therapy ; Coronary Vessels/radiography/surgery ; *Drug-Eluting Stents ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage/etiology ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction/etiology ; Myocardial Revascularization ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Registries

OBJECTIVE: We wanted to evaluate the impact of two reconstruction algorithms (halfscan and multisector) on the image quality and the accuracy of measuring the severity of coronary stenoses by using a pulsating cardiac phantom with different heart rates (HRs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Simulated coronary arteries with different stenotic severities (25, 50, 75%) and different luminal diameters (3, 4, 5 mm) were scanned with a fixed pitch of 0.16 and a 0.35 second gantry rotation time on a 64-slice multidetector CT. Both reconstruction algorithms (halfscan and multisector) were applied to HRs of 40-120 beats per minute (bpm) at 10 bpm intervals. Three experienced radiologists visually assessed the image quality and they manually measured the stenotic severity. RESULTS: Fewer measurement errors occurred with multisector reconstruction (p = 0.05), a slower HR (p < 0.001) and a larger luminal diameter (p = 0.014); measurement errors were not related with the observers or the stenotic severity. There was no significant difference in measurements as for the reconstruction algorithms below an HR of 70 bpm. More nonassessable segments were visualized with halfscan reconstruction (p = 0.004) and higher HRs (p < 0.001). Halfscan reconstruction had better quality scores when the HR was below 60 bpm, while multisector reconstruction had better quality scores when the HR was above 90 bpm. For the HRs between 60 and 90 bpm, both reconstruction modes had similar quality scores. With excluding the nonassessable segments, both reconstruction algorithms achieved a similar mean measured stenotic severity and similar standard deviations. CONCLUSION: At a higher HR (above 90 bpm), multisector reconstruction had better temporal resolution, fewer nonassessable segments, better quality scores and better accuracy of measuring the stenotic severity in this phantom study.
*Algorithms ; Artifacts ; Computer Simulation ; Coronary Angiography/*methods ; Coronary Stenosis/*radiography ; Electrocardiography ; *Heart Rate ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/*methods ; Models, Cardiovascular ; Observer Variation ; Phantoms, Imaging ; Reproducibility of Results ; Severity of Illness Index ; Tomography, Spiral Computed/*methods