Association Between Plasma Levels of Fibrinogen and the Presence and Severity of Coronary Artery Ectasia

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the plasma fibrinogen levels in patients with isolated coronary artery ectasia (CAE). Materials and Methods: The study population included 154 patients, of whom 52 had isolated CAE, 52 had stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and 50 had normal coronary arteries (NCA). The severity of isolated CAE was determined using the Markis classification. All the subjects underwent complete physical examinations, including a detailed medical history, complete blood count and biochemical parameters. Plasma fibrinogen levels also were measured in all subjects. Results: The baseline characteristics of the three groups were similar. Plasma fibrinogen levels were significantly higher in the CAE group and CAD group than in the NCA group (383.3 ± 53.0 mg/dl and 400.8 ± 50.6 mg/dl vs 324.0 ± 56.4 respectively, p lt; 0.001). No difference was found between the CAE and CAD groups. The fibrinogen level was significantly higher in the type 1 Markis subgroup than in the type 2 and type 3 subgroups (P lt;0.001). In multivariate logistic regression analyses, fibrinogen level was independently and significantly associated with isolated CAE. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that fibrinogen levels gt; 325 mg/dl identified patients with isolated CAE. Conclusions: Plasma fibrinogen is an easily measurable systemic inflammatory biomarker that is independently associated with CAE presence and severity. This suggests that fibrinogen may be involved in the pathophysiology of CAE.

Keywords

• fibrinojen
• coronary ectasia