Coronary Artery Ectasia. A comprehensive review of literature, etiology, diagnosis, clinical features, treatment and prognosis
Abstract
Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is a rare clinical condition which represents a form of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. It is defined as dilatation of the coronary artery 1.5 times greater than of an adjacent normal segment of coronary artery (1).
This entity has been reported in patients undergoing coronary angiography from 3% to 8%, alone or in combination with stenotic lesions. The rate of recognition may increase with the use of new non-invasive imaging methods like computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) coronary angiography.
The clinical signifikance of CAE is not very well defined and the results have been mixed and conflicting (2,3). As the main etiologic factor resposible for CAE is atherosclerosis, there are other factors involved in different groups of patients.
The objective of this article is to review and examine the clinical characteristics of CAE, diagnosis, treatment and its prognosis. Also the purpose of this review is to update and summarize the clinical features of CAE.