Coronary Artery Disease Tutorial

Click on the link in the question to learn the answer.

1. What major coronary vessels supply blood flow to the myocardium?
2. What factors determine coronary vascular tone?
3. How and where is nitric oxide formed in a coronary vessel and what is it physiological role?
4. What is active hyperemia and what mechanisms are responsible for this phenomenon?
5. How do sympathetic and parasympathetic activation of the heart alter coronary blood flow?
6. How do mechanical forces during the cardiac cycle alter coronary blood flow?
7. What determines oxygen supply (delivery) to the myocardium?
8. What determines the degree of oxygen extraction from the coronary blood as it passes through the heart?
9. How is myocardial oxygen demand (consumption) determined?
10. What is the myocardial oxygen supply/demand ratio and what factors alter this ratio?
11. How is the oxygen supply/demand ratio related to the level of myocardial tissue oxygenation?
12. Define ischemia and hypoxia.
13. How does myocardial hypoxia alter electrical and mechanical function?
14. What is coronary autoregulation?
15. What is a critical stenosis?
16. What is coronary vascular steal?
17. Define each of the following and state the underlying cause: chronic stable angina, Prinzmetal's (variant) angina, and unstable angina.
18. What is the role of endothelial dysfunction, particularly with respect to nitric oxide production/bioavailability, in coronary artery disease and myocardial ischemia?
19. Define the following: myocardial stunning, hibernation, preconditioning.

Revised 11/03/06