L. Laslett, NORMAL LEFT MAIN CORONARY-ARTERY DIAMETER CAN BE PREDICTED FROM DIAMETERS OF ITS BRANCH VESSELS, Clinical cardiology, 18(10), 1995, pp. 580-582
An uncommon though vexing problem exists when the left main coronary a
rtery appears subjectively to be diffusely stenotic relative to its br
anch vessels, but the severity of such stenosis cannot be determined b
ecause of the lack of a normal reference. To overcome this problem, 20
coronary angiograms demonstrating no evidence of disease were quantit
atively analyzed to determine the normal ratio of left main diameter t
o the sum of the diameters of its immediate branches. For bifurcating
left mains, the mean ratio of diameter of left main to sum of diameter
s of its two immediate branches was 0.65 +/- 0.04; for trifurcating le
ft mains, the mean ratio of diameter of left main to sum of diameters
of its three immediate branches was 0.56 +/- 0.02. Thus, it appears fe
asible and practical to predict the normal diameter of the left main f
rom the measured diameters of its immediate branches.