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Published on: February 7, 2015
Normal coronary diameters in Turkish population
Levent Özdemir1, Erdoğan Sökmen1
1Department of Cardiology, Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, Training and Research Hospital, Kırşehir, Turkey.
Insights
Normal coronary artery diameters in the Turkish population were defined, showing findings that challenge the belief that women have narrower arteries than men. The Turkish population
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Human Anatomy
- Population Health Studies
Background:
- Establishing normative data for coronary artery diameters is crucial for accurate cardiovascular disease diagnosis and risk assessment.
- Existing data on coronary artery dimensions often lacks representation from diverse ethnic groups, including the Turkish population.
- Understanding ethnic variations in coronary artery size is important for interpreting angiographic findings and tailoring clinical practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine normal coronary artery diameters in male and female subjects within the Turkish population.
- To compare these measurements with those of Asian-Indian and Western Caucasian populations.
- To investigate potential gender-based differences in coronary artery dimensions among Turkish individuals.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of angiographic and demographic data from 324 patients with normal coronary arteries.
- Measurement of proximal diameters of major epicardial coronary arteries using specialized software (Axiom Artis) and edge detection.
- Body surface area (BSA) adjustment of all measurements for standardized comparison between genders and ethnic groups.
Main Results:
- Mean adjusted coronary artery diameters were calculated for the left main, left anterior descending, left circumflex, and right coronary arteries.
- Significant gender differences were observed in unadjusted and adjusted coronary artery diameters within the Turkish population.
- The Turkish population exhibited similar BSA and coronary diameters to Caucasians, but larger adjusted proximal left anterior descending artery diameters compared to Asian-Indians.
Conclusions:
- Findings contradict the traditional view that women possess narrower coronary arteries than men in the Turkish cohort.
- The Turkish population's coronary artery diameters are comparable to Western Caucasians but larger than Asian-Indians, particularly the proximal LAD.
- This study provides valuable data for the global pool of normal coronary diameters, serving as a reference for future research and clinical applications.
Background:
This study aims to define normal coronary artery diameters of males and females in a sample of Turkish population, compared to Asian-Indian and Western Caucasian populations.
Methods:
Angiographic and demographic data of a total of 324 patients (147 males, 177 females; mean age 55.3±10.1 years; range, 32 to 82 years) who underwent elective coronary angiography with angiographically normal coronary arteries between July 2017 and March 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Proximal diameters of major epicardial coronary arteries were measured using the Axiom Artis software according to edge detection method. All the measurements were adjusted to the body surface area. Unadjusted and adjusted values were compared between genders and with the Asian-Indian and Caucasian population samples.
Results:
The mean diameters of unadjusted/adjusted left main coronary artery, proximal left anterior descending artery, proximal left circumflex artery, and proximal right coronary artery were 4.5±0.6 mm/2.4±0.4 mm/m2, 3.7±0.5 mm/1.9±0.3 mm/m2, 3.3±0.6 mm/1.7±0.3 mm/m2, and 3.4±0.6 mm/1.8±0.4 mm/m2, respectively. Adjusted left main coronary artery and proximal left circumflex artery were narrower, and unadjusted proximal left anterior descending artery and unadjusted/adjusted proximal right coronary artery were larger in men, compared to women in the Turkish population. Turkish population had similar body surface area and unadjusted/adjusted coronary diameters with Caucasians, whereas adjusted proximal left anterior descending artery was larger in the Turkish population than in Asian-Indians.
Conclusion:
Our study findings on the Turkish population contradict the traditional belief that women have narrower coronary arteries then men. Furthermore, the Turkish population have comparable adjusted/unadjusted coronary diameters with the Western Caucasians, but larger adjusted/unadjusted proximal left anterior descending artery, compared to Asian-Indians. We believe that our findings may contribute to the global data pool of normal coronary diameters and can be utilized in future studies as a database.
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