Relationship between total and differential leukocyte counts and isolated coronary artery ectasia

Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is a clinical entity characterized by localized or diffuse dilatation of more than or equal to 1.5 times that of the normal adjacent segments of vessels. Although the etiopathogenesis is not clearly understood, some studies have shown that CAE may be a form of atherosclerosis and has more potent inflammatory properties. Leukocytes have a crucial role in the development of inflammatory processes. We aimed to investigate a possible relationship between leukocytes and the coronary ectatic process without coronary artery disease (CAD) and to compare it with the inflammatory atherosclerotic process related to leukocytes.

The study population consisted of 371 patients. We divided the patients into three groups: 42 patients with isolated CAE as group I, 279 patients with CAD as group II, and 50 control participants with normal coronary arteries (NCA) as group III. The counts of total leukocytes (7348+/-1898, 7569+/-1619, and 6770+/-1748 cells/mm, P=0.002), neutrophils (4260+/-2169, 4529+/-1380, and 4040+/-1649 cells/mm, P=0.037) and monocytes (630+/-216, 583+/-198, and 480+/-140 cells/mm, P<0.001) were significantly different among the CAE, CAD, and NCA groups, respectively. The CAE group also had significantly higher leukocyte and subtype counts than the nonobstructive CAD subgroup and NCA group.

This study demonstrates that total and differential leukocyte counts, which play an important role in inflammation, are increased in patients with isolated CAE. In conclusion, this study's findings show that leukocytes may play an important role in the development of CAE independently of the atherosclerotic process.