Residual stress ischaemia is associated with blood markers of myocardial structural remodelling.

Background: Long-term prognosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients is worsened when stress ischemia persists on treatment, but the relationship with adverse cardiac remodelling had never been investigated.

Aim: To analyze changes in blood markers of fibrosis in patients with chronic CAD exhibiting exercise ischaemia.

Methods: Circulating markers of collagen: (i) turnover (amino-terminal propeptide of collagen-III [PIIINP]) and (ii) degradation (matrix metalloproteinase 1 [MMP-1]), were obtained in 139 CAD patients referred for exercise 201Tl-SPECT.