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Assessment of the mechanical properties of coronary arteries using intravascular ultrasound: an in vivo study

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Abstract

The pressure-area relation of coronary arteries provides important information about the mechanical properties of these vessels. In human subjects methodological limitations have precluded measurement of instantaneous compliance and coronary stress in vivo. The purpose of this study was to assess a new method for measuring instantaneous values of coronary artery compliance and wall stress utilizing simultaneously acquired pressure and intravascular ultrasound measurements of vessel area. Ten subjects with coronary artery disease had intravascular ultrasound studies of the proximal left anterior descending or circumflex coronary arteries. Coronary luminal area was measured with a 30-MHz (3F or 3.5F) intravascular ultrasound catheter and simultaneous coronary pressure measured with a 2F micromanometer-tipped catheter. Using this technique the nonlinear pressure-area relation and mean circumferential wall stress were determined over the physiological pressure range. Coronary artery compliance at 100 mmHg ranged from 0.010 to 0.052 mm2/mmHg (mean ± SD, 0.020 ± 0.012 mm2/mmHg). Peak systolic circumferential stress ranged from 0.52 to 2.03 × 106 dyn/cm2 (1.09 ± 0.42×106 dyn/cm2). This study describes a new method of determining coronary artery mechanical properties over the physiological pressure range. This technique may be useful in further studies of coronary artery mechanics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Michael J.A. Williams, Ralph A.H. Stewart, Clive J.S. Low & Gerard T. Wilkins

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  1. Michael J.A. Williams
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  2. Ralph A.H. Stewart
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  3. Clive J.S. Low
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  4. Gerard T. Wilkins
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Williams, M.J., Stewart, R.A., Low, C.J. et al. Assessment of the mechanical properties of coronary arteries using intravascular ultrasound: an in vivo study. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 15, 287–294 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006279228534

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