Progression of coronary atherosclerosis and the non-invasive evaluation in older patients

To evaluate characteristics of coronary atherosclerosis in older patients and to elucidate the role of dipyridamole myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (DMPS) in the assessment of patients with coronary artery disease, 437 patients (330 men, 107 women, age range 13-85 years) initially underwent coronary angiography (CAG) and DMPS. Coronary risk factors were evaluated in relation to the severity and progression of coronary atherosclerosis. Cardiac events were also evaluated during the follow-up period of 39 +/- 19 months (range 1-77 months). Assessment of five coronary risk factors, including hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, hypertension, positive family history, and history of smoking, was made in 212 patients in relation to the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. In patients with insignificant lesions or single vessel disease, prevalence of hypercholesterolemia and positive family history was lower in older patients (65 years or older) than in younger patients (64 years or younger), but significant difference was not found in prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and history of smoking. In patients with multivessel disease, there was no significant difference in prevalence of coronary risk factors between the two groups except history of smoking. Repeated CAG was performed in 27 patients during follow-up. Nineteen of them experienced increased symptoms of angina and eight patients newly developed acute myocardial infarction. The patients with increased angina had more risk factors, and majority of them (74%) showed some progression of previously noted severe stenoses in the proximal coronary arteries. In patients with new infarction, 62% of them showed new total occlusions as infarct-related lesions, although there were some patients who showed progression of previously noted severe lesions. DMPS was performed in 437 patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)