Clinical and angiographic predictors of new total coronary occlusion in coronary artery disease: Analysis of 313 nonoperated patients*

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A new coronary artery occlusion was found in 98 of 313 consecutive patients (31%) with coronary artery disease treated medically who underwent catheterization twice, 39 ± 25 months apart. Multivariate logistic regression displayed 8 independent predictors of new occlusion. Four were available at the time of the second angiogram: the interval between the 2 studies (p = 0.005), a decrease in ejection fraction (p <0.01), the appearance of bundle branch block (p <0.01), and an interim myocardial infarction (p <0.05). Four other predictors were found at the time of the first angiogram: 2 anglographic characteristics, 1 related to the severity (presence of an 80% or greater luminal diameter narrowing of an artery supplying a non-akinetic left ventricular segment [p <0.005]) and 1 to the extent (count of the lesions narrowed 75% or less in luminal diameter in a 15-segment coding system [p <0.05]) of coronary artery disease, and 2 risk factors: smoking status (p <0.05) and male sex (p <0.05). The 140 male smokers with at least 80% diameter stenosis or at least 4 segments with moderate (75% or less) stenosis were at a higher risk of occlusion than the 173 other patients after intervals of less than 2 years (13 of 53 vs 7 of 74, p <0.001), 2 to 4 years (23 of 40 vs 10 of 47, p <0.005) and more than 4 years (27 of 47 vs 18 of 54, p <0.05). Thus, the appearance of a new occlusion, while strongly associated with new myocardial damage, can be predicted by a combination of 2 angiographic and 2 clinical characteristics at the time of the first evaluation.

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    This study was supported in part by a Fellowship award to Dr. Moise from the INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche médicale), Paris, France, and the FRSQ (Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec), Québec, Canada.

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