Patients with CAE have higher resting coronary blood flow in comparison with subjects with normal coronaries. Intravenous nitroglycerin administration causes significant reduction of coronary blood flow in ectatic coronary arteries.

No abstract

The results and complications of a single-center experience of stent implantation in old saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) need to be defined. The authors studied their initial consecutive 92 patients (125 stents, 1.4 stents/per patient) with a mean age of 67+/-9 years. The patients' mean saphenous vein graft (SVG) age was 10+/-4 years, and the mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 46%+/-15. Patient population included unstable angina (65%), stable angina (10%), myocardial infarction (21%), and silent ischemia (4%). The authors implanted 122 Palmaz-Schatz/biliary and three Gianturco-Roubin stents. They aimed at a balloon-artery ratio of 1.1/1.0. Procedural success, defined as stent deployment with <50% stenosis without death/Q-wave myocardial infarction/coronary artery bypass grafting (MI/CABG) was 95%. The mean luminal diameter (MLD) increased from 0.6+/-0.5 to 3.3+/-0.8 mm (p<0.001) and mean SVG stenosis diameter was decreased from 80%+/-14 to -10%+/-11 (p<0.001). Angiographic SVG lesions exhibited thrombus (17%), ulceration (38%), and plaque rupture (28%). Sixty-two patients were treated with warfarin and aspirin and 30 with ticlid and aspirin. Complications included death in three patients (3.3%) who sustained subacute stent thrombosis, and two of three had Q-wave MI. Distal embolization occurred in seven patients (8%); six of seven sustained a non Q-wave acute myocardial infarction (AMI); and one of seven a Q-wave MI. Eight (9%) patients had major groin hematoma, two had pseudoaneurysm (2.2%), one had arteriovenous (A-V) fistula (1.1%), two had vascular surgery (2.2%), nine had blood transfusion (9.8%), and three had stent migration (3.3%). Single-center experience with stents in SVGs indicates a highly successful procedural and angiographic immediate result. However, it was complicated by significant risk of non Q-wave MI due to distal coronary embolization which may affect prognosis.

We concluded that patients with isolated CAE have a higher resting coronary flow as compared to control subjects with normal coronaries. Intravenous dipyridamole administration in these patients maintained a significantly higher coronary flow, with a coronary flow reserve similar to controls.