Background: Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is characterized by an abnormal dilatation of the coronary arteries. The most common cause of CAE is atherosclerosis but other possible etiologies include congenital abnormalities and inflammatory and connective tissue disease. Earlier studies have documented the association of CAE with the presence of aneurysms in other vascular beds. However, cardiac venous system in patients with isolated CAE has not been studied earlier. In this study, we aimed to assess coronary venous vessels by antegrade coronary venous angiography in patients with isolated CAE.
Methods: Twenty-four patients with isolated CAE without significant stenosis and 21 age-matched and sex-matched controls without CAE were included in this study. The anatomy of the coronary venous system was imaged in a left anterior oblique view at an angle of 45° by antegrade coronary angiography.
Results: Patients with isolated CAE had significantly larger coronary veins compared with control individuals with angiographically normal coronary arteries (coronary sinus ostium: 10.1 ± 1.0 vs. 8.5 ± 2.2 mm, respectively, P=0.003; coronary sinus mid level: 7.9 ± 1.4 vs. 6.5 ± 1.6, respectively, P=0.003; great cardiac vein: 5.6 ± 1.0 vs. 4.3 ± 0.8, respectively, P=0.001; middle cardiac vein: 3.9 ± 1.3 vs. 3.7 ± 1.4, respectively, P=0.52; posterior or lateral vein: 3.2 ± 1.1 vs. 2.4 ± 0.7, respectively, P=0.016).
Conclusion: We have shown for the first time a significant dilatation in the coronary veins in patients with isolated CAE, suggesting the presence of a more extensive vascular destruction in the coronary circulation.