Does acute occlusion of a coronary artery in a previously normal heart lead to the development of a collateral circulation, and how long does it take to establish?
This experimental study aims to determine if and how quickly acute coronary occlusion stimulates the development of collateral circulation in a previously normal heart.
"Hence it sometimes happens that, when the lumen of some artery has been too long obstructed or ligated, the blood busies itself in opening a wider channel for its passage in this vessel, must drive and buffet all the more into the next ones, until it has considerably dilated them to give itself room." The development of interarterial coronary anastomoses may exert a profound influence on the clinical course of angina pectoris, coronary failure, and acute myocardial infarction. Earlier studies have shown that marked narrowing of a coronary artery produces rich intercoronary anastomotic communications. The present study is designed to determine whether acute occlusion of a coronary artery in a previously normal heart also leads to the development of a collateral circulation and what length of time is necessary to establish such a collateral circulation.
Paul et al. (Tue,) studied this question.