title: Significance of collateral circulation in patients with left main coronary artery disease.
abstract: Fifty patients with left main coronary artery disease were studied to evaluate the functional role of collateral circulation. The left main was narrowed 50-70% in 22 patients (group I), and more than 70% in 28 patients (group II). Significant disease in the other vessels was equally common in each group. There was no significant difference in the incidence of inter- and intracoronary collaterals in the two groups. Fifteen patients with no collaterals were compared with 35 patients with collaterals, and to a subset of 11 patients with very rich right-to-left collaterals, and there was no significant difference in historic or ECG evidence of old infarction, duration of angina, incidence of unstable angina, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, cardiac index, ejection fraction, or segmental contraction abnormalities. We conclude that there is no evidence of protective effect of collateral vessels in patients with left main disease.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002932:Cineangiography; D003097:Collateral Circulation; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged