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Vascular Medicine, Vol. 11, No. 4, 239-244 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1358863x06075006

Association of improvement of brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation with cardiovascular events

Alois Suessenbacher

Matthias Frick

Hannes F Alber

Division of Cardiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Verena Barbieri

Department of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Health Economics, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Otmar Pachinger

Division of Cardiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Franz Weidinger

Division of Cardiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Anichstrasse 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Tel: +43 512 504 23406; Fax: +43 512 504 22767; F.Weidinger{at}uibk.ac.at

The aim of this pilot study was to test the prognostic value of serial measurements of peripheral endothelial function, assessed by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), in patients with angiographically proven coronary artery disease. In 68 patients, FMD was measured on the day after coronary angiography and again after a mean of 14 ± 12 months. Patients were divided into two groups: absolute improvement in FMD ≥ 3% (FMD-improver += FMD-i) and <3% (FMD-non-improver = FMD-ni). After a mean follow-up of 44 ± 12 months, cardiovascular events were recorded. Baseline characteristics were similar between groups, except the number of risk factors which was smaller in FMD-i (1.6 ± 0.7 vs 2.1 ± 0.9, p < 0.02). Cardiovascular events were more frequent in FMD-ni (9 vs 1 event; p < 0.05). In Kaplan–Meier analysis, a trend towards a better outcome in patients with improved FMD was found using the log-rank test (p = 0.08). The single baseline FMD showed no relationship with late cardiovascular events. Thus, ‘delta-FMD’ may be more closely related to prognosis than a single FMD measurement.

Key Words: coronary artery disease • flow-mediated dilation • prognostic value


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