title: Coronary microcirculation and cardiovascular pathology.
abstract: The recent arrival of new techniques for exploring the coronary microcirculation has facilitated assessment of both the incidence and consequences of disorders of this network in a large number of cardiovascular diseases. The microcirculation is affected in numerous cardiomyopathies in the presence of different cardiovascular risk factors and also following cardiac transplantation. Dysfunction of the microcirculation may correspond to a reduction in the surface of the maximum section of coronary arterioles, which involves multiple mechanisms, although this phenomenon does not appear to play a role in ischaemic heart disease. Reduced coronary flow is most frequently related to vascular rarefaction of multifactorial origin, including greater or lesser degrees of intimal proliferation, perivascular fibrosis, hypertrophy of the media and extrinsic compression.
authors.affiliation: Federation of Cardiology, Henri Mondor Hospital, Créteil, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Garot
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Teiger
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dupouy
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aptecar
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hittinger
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Dubois-Randé
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors