Coronary artery responsiveness to ergonovine provocation in patients without vasospatic angina: a quantitative...

Even patients without vasospastic angina show vasoconstriction after intracoronary ergonovine administration. We evaluated the determinants of coronary artery responsiveness to ergonovine in such patients.In 165 patients with no provoked electrocardiographic changes or ischemic chest pain during an intracoronary ergonovine test, total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) were correlated with the arterial luminal diameters before and after ergonovine infusion and after nitroglycerin injection by quantitative coronary angiography analysis.The mean and maximal basal tone (ie, percent change between baseline luminal diameter and diameter after nitroglycerin) were 7.0 ± 9.9% and 27.9 ± 10.8%, respectively. The mean and maximal responsiveness to ergonovine (ie, percent change between minimal diameter during ergonovine infusion and diameter after nitroglycerin) were 30.3 ± 13.6% and 52.7 ± 16.0%, respectively. The TG level (r = 0.191, P = 0.016) and TG/HDL ratio (r = 0.182, P = 0.021) were positively correlated with the basal tone, whereas LDL level (r = 0.155, P = 0.048) and LDL/HDL ratio (r = 0.172, P = 0.030) were positively correlated with the responsiveness to ergonovine. By multivariate analysis, LDL level, LDL/HDL ratio, and smoking were independent predictors of more than 50% responsiveness to ergonovine.Serum lipid profile and smoking influence the basal tone and responsiveness to ergonovine of coronary artery in patients without vaospastic angina.