TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of coronary microvascular abnormalities in coronary artery disease-implications for perfusion imaging
AU - Sambuceti, Gianmario
AU - Parodi, Oberdan
PY - 1995/1
Y1 - 1995/1
N2 - The exact role and relative importance of the microvascular dysfunction in the pathophysiology and natural history of CAD is still to be defined. However, this disorder might affect imaging of both baseline and stress myocardial perfusion. A resting perfusion defect should not always be considered a marker of severe coronary stenosis not adequately counterbalanced by a maximal distal vasodilation. In fact, resting hypoperfusion does not necessarily imply exhaustion of vasodilator reserve and may be observed even in regions supplied by angiographically normal coronary arteries. Similarly, the absence of a perfusion defect during stress might indicate the presence of either a nonsignificant stenosis or a diffuse impairment in microcirculatory function. The possibility of obtaining absolute measurements of regional myocardial perfusion by positron emission tomography allows identification of mechanisms affecting myocardial blood flow regulation, providing a more precise characterization of CAD beyond simple agreement with the morphologic angiographic picture.
AB - The exact role and relative importance of the microvascular dysfunction in the pathophysiology and natural history of CAD is still to be defined. However, this disorder might affect imaging of both baseline and stress myocardial perfusion. A resting perfusion defect should not always be considered a marker of severe coronary stenosis not adequately counterbalanced by a maximal distal vasodilation. In fact, resting hypoperfusion does not necessarily imply exhaustion of vasodilator reserve and may be observed even in regions supplied by angiographically normal coronary arteries. Similarly, the absence of a perfusion defect during stress might indicate the presence of either a nonsignificant stenosis or a diffuse impairment in microcirculatory function. The possibility of obtaining absolute measurements of regional myocardial perfusion by positron emission tomography allows identification of mechanisms affecting myocardial blood flow regulation, providing a more precise characterization of CAD beyond simple agreement with the morphologic angiographic picture.
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U2 - 10.1016/S1071-3581(05)80014-5
DO - 10.1016/S1071-3581(05)80014-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 9420767
AN - SCOPUS:0028899013
VL - 2
SP - 78
EP - 84
JO - Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
JF - Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
SN - 1071-3581
IS - 1
ER -