Impaired coronary microcirculation is associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in end-stage chronic kidney disease patients.

Introduction: Coronary vascular dysfunction, as assessed by coronary flow reserve (CFR) in the left anterior descending coronary artery, is found in various conditions including end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD). Currently, we investigated the associations of CFR with echocardiographic indices of systolic and diastolic cardiac function and identified independent predictors of CFR in hemodialysis patients.

Methods: End-stage CKD patients treated with hemodialysis (n = 29) without known cardiovascular disease were recruited from a Hemodialysis Unit in Northwestern Greece.