Cardiac ischemic score determines the presence of coronary collateral circulation.
OBJECTIVE
The presence of coronary collaterals is of vital importance during acute ischemia, however, marked interindividual variability exists. We examined the extent to which the burden of cardiac ischemia, expressed as a cardiac ischemic score, affects coronary collateral presence.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study in 244 patients, admitted for elective coronary angioplasty. Collaterals were graded with Rentrop's classification. Coronary collateral presence was defined as Rentrop-grade > or =1. The cardiac ischemic score (range 0-4) was calculated by adding 1 point for each of the following four clinical factors present: angina pectoris on exertion, angina pectoris during emotions, previous myocardial infarction, and previous coronary intervention. These four clinical factors were chosen because they can be easily assessed in every patient. We used logistic regression with adjustment for gender, age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia.


RESULTS
The extent of the cardiac ischemic score (odds ratio 1.8 per score-point; 95% confidence interval 1.3-2.5) was strongly associated with coronary collateral presence. Additional adjustment for multivessel coronary disease left the relation essentially unchanged. Also, if the definition of collateral presence was limited to Rentrop-grade 2 and 3, results were effectively the same.


CONCLUSIONS
The extent of the cardiac ischemic score determines the presence of coronary collaterals, and may provide a new index for simple assessment of collateral vascular development.
Koerselman
Jeroen
J
Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
de Jaegere
Peter P Th
PP
Verhaar
Marianne C
MC
Grobbee
Diederick E
DE
der Graaf
Yolanda van
Yv
D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D003097:Collateral Circulation; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology*