Objectives and background: The internal thoracic artery is an established arterial graft for myocardial revascularization. It never had been investigated, whether there are functional differences in this vessel between patients with or without coronary artery disease.
Methods: We investigated the left internal thoracic artery of 28 patients (15 with and 13 without coronary artery disease) with a duplex-system at rest and with a handgrip exercise.
Results: Concerning the measured flow velocities at rest there was only a significant difference between the diastolic mean and peak velocity between the two groups, the other investigated parameters demonstrate no significant difference. The peak diastolic and the mean diastolic velocity was less in patients with coronary artery disease during the handgrip-test. The flow reserve was decreased in patients with coronary artery disease (12.6+/-24.0% vs. 32.3+/-30.9%, P < 0.05).
Conclusions: We demonstrated, that patients with coronary artery disease have a higher peripheral resistance and a lower diastolic velocity of the internal thoracic artery during stress testing. This corresponds to a disturbed vasomotion and may be an early marker of arteriosclerosis.