REMODELING OF THE ATHEROSCLEROTIC ARTERIAL-WALL - A DETERMINANT OF LUMINAL NARROWING IN HUMAN CORONARY-ARTERIES

Background The type of remodeling of the human femoral artery (enlarge ment or shrinkage) is related to the percentage luminal stenosis. Obje ctive To assess how local changes in vessel size, together with plaque load, determine luminal narrowing in atherosclerotic human coronary a rteries. Methods We obtained 576 segments of 28 coronary arteries from 10 patients who had died from noncardiac causes. The lumen area and a rea circumscribed by the internal elastic lamina (IEL) area, a measure of local vessel size in each histologic cross-section were measured, and the mean lumen diameter and mean IEL diameter were calculated. To correct for arterial tapering, expected reference diameter values were calculated at the same location using linear regression of all data p oints along the artery. The IEL diameter and lumen diameter were expre ssed as percentages of the calculated IEL diameter and lumen diameter at the same location (percentage lumen diameter stenosis and relative IEL diameter, respectively). Results We found a negative relation betw een the relative IEL diameter and the percentage lumen diameter stenos is, On average, a narrower than expected lumen diameter was accompanie d by a smaller than expected IEL diameter. A larger than expected lume n diameter was accompanied by a larger than expected IEL diameter. Thi s relation was found for the left anterior descending, circumflex, and right coronary arteries (y = -0.60x + 105.33, r = 0.48; y = -0.45x 100.69, r = 0.84; and y = -0.39x + 101.84, r = 0.61, respectively, all P < 0.05). Conclusions Local luminal narrowing was correlated with a decrease in vessel size, Local remodeling of the artery is one of the determinants of luminal narrowing in the atherosclerotic human coronar y artery. (C) Rapid Science Publishers ISSN 0954-6928.