Improvement of coronary microvascular function after Angiotensin receptor blocker treatment with irbesartan in patients with systemic hypertension.

Patients with hypertension exhibit changes in vessel conductance and resistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the angiotensin receptor blocker irbesartan on coronary microvascular function. Thirty-six hypertensive patients without coronary artery or systemic disease were examined.

Coronary artery flow reserve in diabetics with erectile dysfunction using sildenafil.

Background: Diabetics with erectile dysfunction have a high prevalence of microvascular disturbance of the coronary circuit as measured by coronary flow reserve (CFR).

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the effects of the phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor sildenafil on CFR in diabetics with erectile dysfunction.

Methods: Diabetics seeking diabetes refinement therapy were screened for vascular or neurogenic erectile dysfunction which was confirmed in 43 patients.

Comparison of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography to intracoronary Doppler guidewire measurements for assessment of coronary flow reserve in the left anterior descending artery for detection of restenosis after coronary angioplasty.

Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TDE) has been described as a feasible and accurate technique to noninvasively assess coronary flow reserve (CFR) in the left anterior descending artery (LAD). This study was designed to evaluate whether serial assessment of CFR in the LAD using TDE allows detection of restenosis after previously performed angioplasty. Thirty-three consecutive patients with single-vessel coronary artery disease of the LAD scheduled for angioplasty underwent assessment of coronary flow velocity at rest and during adenosine-induced hyperemia in the distal LAD using high-frequency TDE.

Transthoracic echocardiographic visualization of coronary artery blood flow and assessment of coronary flow reserve in the right coronary artery: a first report of 3 patients.

Assessment of coronary flow reserve (CFR) has proven to be an important diagnostic tool providing useful clinical and physiologic information about coronary artery function. In several studies, the transthoracic echocardiographic assessment of CFR, defined as a ratio of hyperemic to basal coronary flow velocity, was validated in the left anterior descending artery. But so far, the visualization of coronary flow and the measurement of CFR were limited to the mid and distal portion of the left anterior descending artery.