Cardioscopic observation of subendocardial microvessels in patients with coronary artery disease.

Coronary microvessels play a direct and critical role in determining the extent and severity of myocardial ischemia and cardiac function. However, because direct observation has never been performed in vivo, the functional properties of the individual microvesssels in patients with coronary artery disease remain unknown. Subendocardial coronary microvessels were observed by cardioscopy in 149 successive patients with coronary artery disease (81 with stable angina and 68 with old myocardial infarction). Twenty-four arterial microvessels (AMs) and 27 venous microvessels (VMs) were observed in the left ventricular subendocardium. All 12 AMs and 13 of 14 VMs that were located in normokinetic-to-hypokinetic left ventricular wall segments were filled with blood during diastole and were collapsed during systole. In contrast, 8 of 12 AMs and 9 of 13 VMs that were located in akinetic-to-dyskinetic wall segments were filled with blood during systole and were collapsed during diastole. There were no significant correlations between the timing of blood filling and the severity of coronary stenosis and collateral development. In patients with coronary artery disease, the timing of blood filling of AMs and VMs was dependent on the regional left ventricular contractile state; during diastole when contraction was preserved and during systole when it was not. It remains to be elucidated whether and how blood filling is disturbed in other categories of heart disease.