DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BLOOD-FLOW, VELOCITY, AND VASCULAR-RESISTANCE BETWEEN PROXIMAL AND DISTAL NORMAL EPICARDIAL HUMAN CORONARY-ARTERIES - ANALYSIS BY INTRACORONARY DOPPLER SPECTRAL FLOW VELOCITY
Eo. Ofili et al., DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BLOOD-FLOW, VELOCITY, AND VASCULAR-RESISTANCE BETWEEN PROXIMAL AND DISTAL NORMAL EPICARDIAL HUMAN CORONARY-ARTERIES - ANALYSIS BY INTRACORONARY DOPPLER SPECTRAL FLOW VELOCITY, The American heart journal, 130(1), 1995, pp. 37-46
To characterize coronary blood flow velocity parameters and to determi
ne the relation among velocity, volumetric flow, and vascular resistan
ce in awake human beings, we performed paired proximal and distal velo
city measurements in 28 angiographically normal coronary arteries. Mea
n velocity, peak velocity, diastolic-to-systolic velocity ratio, and d
iameter and cross-sectional area of proximal and distal arteries were
determined and coronary flow and vascular resistance computed. Mean ve
locity and coronary vasodilator reserve were similar for all three nat
ive arteries and were preserved from proximal to distal segments. Volu
metric flow decreased from proximal to distal segments. The demonstrat
ed inverse and curvilinear (polynomial) relation between volumetric fl
ow and vascular resistance agrees with theoretical and animal models o
f coronary physiologic characteristics and suggests a nadir of coronar
y vascular resistance below which coronary flow no longer increases.