The atherosclerosis of the sinus node artery is associated with an increased history of supra-ventricular arrhythmias: A retrospective study on 541 standard coronary angiograms

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1 Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
2 Laboratory of Clinical Informatics and Cardiovascular Imaging, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
3 Cardiovascular Diseases Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
4 Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.1204v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Cardiology, Evidence Based Medicine, Hematology, Internal Medicine, Radiology and Medical Imaging
Keywords
sinus node artery, supraventricular arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, ischemia, coronary angiography, atherosclerosis
Copyright
© 2015 Ciulla et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Ciulla MM, Astuti M, Carugo S. 2015. The atherosclerosis of the sinus node artery is associated with an increased history of supra-ventricular arrhythmias: A retrospective study on 541 standard coronary angiograms. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e1204v1

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The ischemic damage of the sinus node (SN) is a well known cause of cardiac arrhythmias and can be a consequence of any flow abnormality in the sinus node artery (SNA). Accordingly we aimed this retrospective study to: 1. evaluate the suitability of the standard coronary angiography to study the SNA and 2. determine if the percentage of subjects with a positive retrospective history of supra-ventricular arrhythmias (SVA) differs in patients with normal and diseased SNA ascertained at the time of coronary angiography. METHODS and RESULTS: out of the 541 coronary angiograms reviewed the SNA was visible for its entire course in 486 cases (89.8%). It was found to arise from the right side of the coronary circulation in 266 cases (54.7%) slightly more often than from the left, 219 cases (45.1%). One patient had 2 distinct SNA arising from either side of the coronary circulation. For the second objective we studied the 333 patients with: a. coronary artery disease (CAD), b. properly evaluable SNA and c. complete clinical history available. In 51 (15.3%) a SNA disease was found, the 41.2% of them had a positive SVA history, mainly atrial fibrillation (AF), whereas only the 7.4% of patients with a positive history of SVA could be found in the non-SNA diseased. This difference was statistically significant (P< 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: 1- The evaluation of the SNA is feasible in clinical practice during a standard coronary angiography; 2- this may be relevant since angiographically detectable SNA disease was significantly associated with a positive history of SVA .

Author Comment

This is a revised version of a manuscript submitted to PeerJ for review.

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