Prognostic Relevance of Findings from Invasive and Noninvasive Investigations in Coronary Heart Disease Patients

Abstract

More than 200 years ago Heberden noticed that among patients with disorders of the chest, the group with typical angina pectoris had a much worse prognosis as compared with patients with atypical, i.e., non-stress-related chest pain. Many years later it became clear that typical angina pectoris is the consequence of coronary artery obstruction. The term coronary heart disease refers to coronary atherosclerosis, the most common cause of coronary artery narrowing, and to its clinical manifestations such as angina pectoris and myocardial infarction.