Coronary Artery Diameter is Inversely Associated with the Severity of Coronary Lesions in Patients Undergoing Coronary Angiography

Abstract

Background: The diameters of the coronary arteries have been suggested to be a potential predictor of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, whether the diameters of the coronary arteries are associated with the coronary lesion severity on angiography has not been determined. Methods: One hundred sixty-seven consecutive adult patients (109 men and 58 women) aged 31–84 years who underwent coronary angiography for suspected or known CAD were enrolled. The known catheter tip diameter was used as the calibration to measure the diameters of coronary arteries, and the severity of coronary lesions was evaluated with the vessel score and Gensini score. Results: In patients with a higher vessel score and Gensini score, the diameters of the left main (LM), left anterior descending (LAD), left circumflex (LCX), and right coronary arteries (RCA) were smaller (all p<0.05) than those in patients with lower scores. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the average coronary artery diameter was significantly associated with the Gensini score (β=-0.444, p<0.00001). Moreover, the diameters of the coronary arteries were potential predictors of CAD, with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.268 for average diameter (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.183–0.353, p<0.00001), 0.356 for the LM diameter (95% CI: 0.266–0.445, p=0.005), 0.214 for the LAD diameter (95% CI: 0.136–0.291, p<0.00001), 0.366 for the LCX diameter (95% CI: 0.271–0.461, p=0.009), and 0.346 for the RCA diameter (95% CI: 0.245–0.447, p=0.003). Conclusion: The diameters of coronary arteries are inversely associated with the severity of CAD.

Modeling Blood Pulsatile Turbulent Flow in Stenotic Coronary Arteries

“…Taking into account that the coronary arteries were selected for this study, the dimensions were selected carefully from the literature to accurately mimic the real conditions of blood flow in these arteries. The diameter selection was based on real data obtained by Zhou et al [38] in 2017. Moreover, to develop the stenotic area, it was found that several authors [2], [39], [40] consider the length of the stenosis as twice the normal diameter of the artery.…”

Alcohol consumption may not affect the diameter of the coronary arteries in men with chest pain

“…The diameter of the coronary arteries is strongly correlated with the risk of CHD. Zhou et al 5 evaluated the potential relationship between the coronary artery diameter and the severity of coronary artery disease. Their study involved 167 participants, including 124 patients with CHD.…”

“…They compared the coronary artery diameters of the participants and found a negative correlation between the coronary artery diameter and the severity of coronary artery disease (as assessed by the Gensini score). 5 Hiteshi et al 13 found that women usually have smaller luminal diameters and therefore exhibit larger changes in the luminal area than do men with the same degree of atherosclerosis, resulting in worse prognoses for women than for men.…”

“…An increased coronary artery diameter may be associated with a reduced severity of CHD. 5 Furthermore, a larger initial coronary artery diameter is associated with a reduced risk of ischemia. The coronary artery diameter varies under different conditions.…”

Effect of left coronary bifurcation angle and left main coronary artery length on coronary artherosclerotic plaque burden

“…The other important point of this study was the LMCA length. Although the relationship between the coronary artery diameter and atherosclerosis is fairly well investigated (18), there is unsatisfactory data about the relationship between LMCA length and atherosclerosis. In a previous postmortem examination study, Gazetepoulos et al suggested that in patients with short LMCA the atherosclerotic lesions in the left coronary artery branches appear earlier, progress and lead more frequently to myocardial infarction, than in cases with a long left coronary artery trunk (19).…”