Exercise-induced human coronary collateral function: quantitative assessment during acute coronary occlusions.

In 50 patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty because of chronic angina pectoris, a collateral flow index (CFI) was determined at the start and the end of two 1-min coronary occlusions, randomly accompanied by a resting state or a 3-min dynamic handgrip exercise (DHE). CFI expressing collateral flow relative to normal antegrade flow was determined by simultaneous coronary occlusive pressure, mean aortic pressure and central venous pressure measurements. When comparing CFI without and with DHE at the start as well as at the end of balloon occlusions, a significant increase was observed with DHE (overall p < 0.0001); start: 0.18 +/- 0.12 vs. 0.22 +/- 0.13, respectively (p = 0.01); end of occlusion: 0.21 +/- 0.14 vs. 0.25 +/- 0.14, respectively (p = 0.007). Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel