[Anatomy and lesions of the coronary system. Comparative data on 100 consecutively examined patients under 35 and...

The aim of the present study was to search for a causal factor of anatomical nature: the shortness of left main coronary (LMC) in two patient groups: a group of 26 patients (males) below age 35, (mean age +/- S.D.: 31 +/- 3 years) and a group of 74 patients (71 males), all over the age of 45, (mean age +/- S.D. 54 +/- 10 years). A comparison group of 32 patients without coronary disease, with normal coronary arteries, (mean age +/- S.D.: 51 +/- 11 years) was identified. The computed mean length of the LMC was 9.92 +/- 3.26 mm (extreme values 2-16) in the young age group, was 11.70 +/- 3.10 mm (extreme values 2-17) (p less than 0.02) in the older age group with coronary artery disease, and was 11.85 +/- 2.55 mm (extreme values 3-21) (p = n.s.) in the group with normal coronary arteries. The mean length of the LMC in the patient group (100 patients) with coronary disease was 11.24 mm. Short stems were noticed in 14 of 26 patients (54 p. 100) in the young group, and in 22 of 74 patients (30 p. 100) in the second group, and there was a statistically significant difference between the proportions of short stems in these two groups (p less than 0.05). The mean length of LMC in the controls (Group III; 11.85) was not significantly different from that in Group II, namely 11.70.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)