CORONARY-ARTERIES AND LEFT-VENTRICULAR PERFORMANCE IN CORONARY HEART-DISEASE PATIENTS WITH SILENT EPISODES OF MYOCARDIAL-ISCHEMIA

The results of multiviewed coronary angiography with left ventriculography were compared in 36 patients with coronary heart disease concurrent with Functional Classes II-IV stable angina pectoris, who had had frequent episodes of silent myocardial ischemia (SMI), as evidenced by Holter monitoring, and in 23 patients with coronary heart disease in the presence of Functional Classes II-IV stable angina pectoris without SMI episodes. In patients with SMI, the changes in coronary arteries were found to have some features: the extension of an atherosclerotic process (common lesion of all three major arteries), its frequent site in the main trunk of the left coronary artery, high collateralization in the diseased vascular channels, and great extent of stenoses. There were no differences between the groups in the major functional parameters of the left ventricular myocardium.