The clinical picture of stenoses of the trunk of the left coronary artery

: In 1991-1993 the authors made at the Second Medical Clinic of the Faculty Hospital in Hradec Kralove 651 coronarographic examinations: in 460 patients they detected ischaemic heart disease, of the latter 44 (9.6%) suffered from stenosis of the trunk of the left coronary. During the premorbid period the authors evaluated the grade of stenocardia according to the Canadian cardiovascular classification and also the incidence, number of coronary attacks and reason for indicating coronarography. In 29 patients (66%) the authors made an ergometric examination--in 82.8% the finding was positive and in 17.2 negative. The loading test was unequivocally positive only in complete obstruction of the left coronary, in case of multiarterial affection almost in all cases. Coronarography revealed only in 4 patients (9%) isolated stenosis of the trunk of the left coronary, most frequently the finding was also on two other (36.4%) or 3 (34.1%) arteries. Complete occlusion of the trunk of the left coronary was recorded in 6.8%. An ejection fraction of 50% or more was recorded in 75% of the patients. Surgical revascularization was performed in 35 patients. Twenty-nine patients are followed up after operation on a long-term basis (on average for 7.8 months), 23 of the patients report improvement of their complaints (65.7%). The investigation provided evidence that stenosis of the trunk of the left coronary is a relatively frequent finding in the patient population with ischaemic heart disease and that it is most frequently associated with affection of two and three arteries.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)