Coronary artery luminal diameter in aortic stenosis.

The coronary artery luminal diameters in 32 patients with aortic stenosis (AS) were compared with those of 24 control subjects without left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy by means of a derived index. Patients with AS had significantly larger coronary arteries than the control subjects (p less than 0.01). The increase in coronary luminal diameter had a weak correlation to LV wall thickness (r = 0.32) and LV mass (r = 0.34). Among 21 patients with AS and normal coronary angiograms, those with angina had higher peak LV pressures (224 +/- 8 vs 196 +/- 7 mm Hg) and greater peak systolic gradients (103 +/- 9 vs 74 +/- 10 mm Hg) than those without angina (p less than 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in coronary artery diameters, peak LV stress or LV tension at rest between patients with and without angina.