Coronary artery calcification: clinical implications and angiographic correlates.

Summary A prospective study of 250 consecutive patients with angiographically proved arteriosclerotic heart disease and 250 consecutive patients with normal coronary angiograms is reported to evaluate the significance of coronary artery calcification. Coronary artery calcification was present in 76 per cent of the patients with arteriosclerotic heart disease as compared to 22 per cent of the patients with normal coronary angiograms. The frequency of coronary artery calcification increased progressively with increasing age. In patients aged 49 or less the presence of coronary artery calcification strongly favors the diagnosis of arteriosclerotic heart disease. Patients with double- or triple-vessel disease are more likely to have coronary artery calcification than are patients with single-vessel disease. Calcification was more likely to involve a coronary artery involved with significant disease but was not related to the severity of that disease. Calcification of the main left coronary artery was not helpful in predicting significant disease of the main left coronary artery. Calcification of two or three coronary arteries indicated that singlevessel coronary artery disease was unlikely.