Related Experiment Videos
Intimal hyperplasia and coronary flow reserve after heart transplantation: association with big endothelin-1
Paul Wexberg1, Richard Pacher, Suzanne Rödler
1Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine II, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. paul.wexberg@univie.ac.at
Background:
Endothelin, a peptide with strong vasoconstrictive and mitogenic properties, has been found to increase after cardiac transplantation. We therefore assessed the association between its precursor peptide, big endothelin-1, and intimal hyperplasia and coronary flow reserve after heart transplantation.
Methods:
Thirty-five patients without hemodynamically significant coronary artery disease after heart transplantation were investigated: Average peak flow velocity in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) was assessed by intracoronary Doppler at baseline as well as after injection of adenosine; coronary flow reserve was calculated as a ratio of both and was corrected for patient age and baseline average peak flow velocity. Lumen, intima + media and total vessel area were measured by intracoronary ultrasound. The plasma concentration of big endothelin-1 in venous blood was determined by radioimmunoassay.
Results:
Patients with elevated big endothelin-1 levels (>2 fmol/ml) tended to have a decreased corrected coronary flow reserve (2.60 +/- 0.9 vs 3.21 +/- 1.0, p = 0.078). They also had a significantly larger intima + media area (5.82 +/- 2.9 vs 2.37 +/- 2.9 mm(2), p = 0.004) and total vessel area (18.36 +/- 5.8 vs 12.81 +/- 4.8 mm(2), p = 0.012) than those with normal plasma concentrations.
Conclusions:
Our study suggests an association between elevated big endothelin-1 plasma levels and the development of intimal hyperplasia and reduction of coronary flow reserve after cardiac transplantation.