Coronary Ectasia

Excerpt

Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is a dilation of the coronary artery lumen. The term "ectasia" refers to diffuse dilation of a coronary artery, while focal coronary dilation is called a "coronary aneurysm." The definition of coronary artery ectasia is a dilatation exceeding more than one-third of the coronary artery length with the diameter of the dilated segment measuring more than 1.5 times the diameter of a normal adjacent segment. Coronary artery ectasia is well recognized, but uncommon findings are encountered during diagnostic coronary angiography (See Image. Coronary Artery Ectasia). The classification of coronary artery ectasia is subdivided into 4 groups:

1. Type 1: diffuse ectasia of 2 or 3 vessels

2. Type 2: diffuse ectasia in 1 vessel and localized disease in another vessel

3. Type 3: diffuse ectasia in 1 vessel only

4. Type 4: localized or segmental involvement