Compensatory Enlargement of Human Atherosclerotic Coronary Arteries

Whether human coronary arteries undergo compensatory enlargement in the presence of coronary disease has not been clarified. We studied histologic sections of the left main coronary artery in 136 hearts obtained at autopsy to determine whether atherosclerotic human coronary arteries enlarge in relation to plaque (lesion) area and to assess whether such enlargement preserves the cross-sectional area of the lumen. The area circumscribed by the...