Distribution of Arterial Lesions Demonstrated by Selective Cinecoronary Arteriography

The distribution of obstructions exceeding 30% of the normal diameter of the lumen of one or more major coronary arteries was studied in 627 of 1,000 patients who had selective cinecoronary arteriograms. An additional 99 patients had lesser degrees of narrowing, and in the arteriograms of 274 patients, normal arteries were demonstrated. An average of 2.0 lesions resulting in at least 50% luminal narrowing of major arteries was found per patient. The anterior descending coronary artery was involved slightly more frequently than were other vessels. More than 75% of the symptomatic patients had 90% or more obstruction of at least one vessel, and more than 50% had total occlusions of one or more vessels. A single major artery was the site of obstruction exceeding 30% of the luminal diameter in 131 patients (20.9% of the 627 patients), and in 43 of these (6.9%) the other arteries appeared to be entirely normal. Severe involvement of single arteries was most frequent in patients who had myocardial infarction without angina pectoris or in those who had rest pain only. No pattern of arterial involvement was pathognomonic of a clinical syndrome.