title: Insight to the pathophysiology of stable angina pectoris.
abstract: Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease which mainly represents an inflammatory response in the vessels. Myocardial ischemia manifested by angina pectoris can be either acute or chronic and usually is a result of imbalance between myocardial oxygen supply and myocardial oxygen demand. Chronic stable angina is chest discomfort attributed to myocardial ischemia without the presence of necrosis and is the most common symptom encountered by emergency room physicians. A growing amount of data has shown that endothelial dysfunction, is now considered an important early event in the development of atherosclerosis, while in the absence of angiographically obstructive coronary artery disease, anginal chest pain is often attributed to microvascular coronary dysfunction. Moreover, atheroma formation and in turn, atherosclerotic plaques seem to affect coronary flow, given that multivessel flow-limiting obstructions are observed in patients with chronic coronary syndrome. Morphological changes of diseased arteries related to significant atherosclerosis, such as vascular remodeling may also result in stable angina or claudication. However, several issues with respect to the comprehension of the pathophysiology of the chronic coronary syndrome have not been fully elucidated.
authors.affiliation: 1st Cardiology Department, Hippokration Hospital, Athens University Medical School, Greece. drtousoulis@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tousoulis
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Androulakis
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kontogeorgou
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papageorgiou
authors.forename: Marietta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Charakida
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Siama
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Latsios
authors.forename: Gerasimos
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Siasos
authors.forename: Anna-Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kampoli
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tourikis
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsioufis
authors.forename: Christodoulos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
mesh_terms: D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D059289:Vascular Stiffness
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen