Coronary artery ectasia and markers of atherosclerosis IJCCR Characteristics of coronary artery ectasia and its association with carotid intima-media thickness and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (original) (raw)

1,2,3,4,5 Cardiology department, Benha university hospital, Benha faculty of medicine, Egypt. This study was conducted to uncover the relation between coronary artery ectasia (CAE) and markers of atherosclerosis. A total of 1611 coronary angiograms were prospectively examined to find out patients with CAE. Those patients were divided into 2 groups: Mixed CAE with stenotic coronary artery disease (CAD) " group 1 " and pure CAE " group 2 ". Two control groups of age-adjusted subjects were selected consecutively in a 1:1 fashion; one with normal coronaries " group 3 " (Pure CAE: normal coronaries) and the other with obstructive CAD only " group 4 " (Mixed CAE: obstructive CAD). All recruited subjects underwent carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level measurements. Out of examined angiograms, 35 subjects showed mixed CAE " group 1 " and 26 showed pure CAE " group 2 ". Age and gender-adjusted logistic regression analysis model revealed that significant independent predictors for CAE were: hypertension, smoking, absence of DM and hs-CRP level > 3 mg/L. Mean carotid IMT was significantly higher in group 2 than group 3 and in group 4 than group 1 (1±0.1 versus 0.4±0.2 mm and 1.4±0.4 versus 1±0.2 mm respectively, P < 0.001 for both). Mean hs-CRP level was significantly higher in group 1 than group 4 and in group 2 than group 3 (7±2 versus 3±0.8 mg/L and 6±2 versus 1±0.6 mg/L respectively, P < 0.001 for both). We concluded that atherosclerosis may not be the only plausible explanation for CAE.