Myocardial sympathetic innervation in patients with chronic coronary artery disease: is reduction in coronary flow reserve correlated with sympathetic denervation?

Purpose: Higher sensitivity of sympathetic nerves to ischaemia in comparison with myocytes has been observed and has been claimed to contribute to poor prognosis in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the dependency of myocardial sympathetic innervation on restrictions in coronary flow reserve (CFR).

Methods: We analysed 27 non-diabetic patients with advanced CAD.