Microvascular function, diabetes and coronary risk

The coronary microcirculation is the major determinant of coronary blood flow in the absence of critical epicardial stenoses. For decades, microvascular dysfunction has been measured by means of coronary flow reserve (CFR) –that is, the ratio of hyperemic over baseline coronary flow– with a normal cutoff between 2.0 and 2.5. However, CFR has several shortcomings, such as depending on baseline coronary flow and not being completely specific of the microcirculation, but also affected by epicardial stenoses.
Source: International Journal of Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research