Project description:Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) involving the coronary arteries is an uncommon but important condition that can present as acute coronary syndrome, left ventricular dysfunction, or potentially sudden cardiac death. Although the classic angiographic "string of beads" that may be observed in renal artery FMD does not occur in coronary arteries, potential manifestations include spontaneous coronary artery dissection, distal tapering or long, smooth narrowing that may represent dissection, intramural hematoma, spasm, or tortuosity. Importantly, FMD must be identified in at least one other noncoronary arterial territory to attribute any coronary findings to FMD. Although there is limited evidence to guide treatment, many lesions heal spontaneously; thus, a conservative approach is generally preferred. The etiology is poorly understood, but there are ongoing efforts to better characterize FMD and define its genetic and molecular basis. This report reviews the clinical course of FMD involving the coronary arteries and provides guidance for diagnosis and treatment strategies.
Project description:BackgroundWe present a patient with history of sinus venous thrombosis and hypertension during the last year. Her blood pressure was not controlled despite drugs, diet, and exercise. She denied symptoms. She does not smoke nor drink alcohol. Her body mass index was 20 kg/m2, NYHA Class I/IV.Case summaryA 40-year-old Latin-American female patient, concerned because despite taking verapamil 160 mg/day, losartan 100 mg/day, and hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg/day her diastolic blood pressure was over 100 mmHg. Routine serum and urine lab tests and a transthoracic echocardiogram were done and were normal. The treatment was increased over the next consultations but without control of her blood pressure. She developed resistant hypertension, and she was taking four antihypertensive drugs and two diuretics. A first renal artery Doppler was normal. Because of a high clinical suspicion a renal angio-CT was performed showing bilateral fibromuscular dysplasia. The patient underwent a renal artery angioplasty with balloon with excellent results and better control of her blood pressure after the procedure. Over the next month, her doctors were able to decrease her treatment to two drugs at intermediate doses. Currently, she is doing well and asymptomatic.DiscussionRenal artery fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) could be a challenging disease to be diagnosed. Patients with this condition may suffer from symptomatic and resistant hypertension. Many patients do not have abnormalities on their physical exam or in the routine lab tests. Treatment includes renal artery angioplasty if patient is symptomatic and blood pressure is resistant.
Project description:A 53-year-old woman underwent a cardiac catheterization for evaluation of acute coronary syndrome. The coronary angiogram revealed evidence of spontaneous coronary artery dissection in multiple coronary arteries including the left anterior descending artery, posterior descending artery, and posterior left ventricular artery. Further diagnostic imaging revealed associated bilateral vertebral artery and renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD). Follow-up coronary angiogram 6 weeks later revealed a "string of beads" appearance of the posterior descending artery. This case highlights the importance of extra-coronary imaging for FMD and demonstrates angiogram findings suggestive of coronary FMD.
Project description:Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), formerly called fibromuscular fibroplasia, is a group of nonatherosclerotic, noninflammatory arterial diseases that most commonly involve the renal and carotid arteries. The prevalence of symptomatic renal artery FMD is about 4/1000 and the prevalence of cervicocranial FMD is probably half that. Histological classification discriminates three main subtypes, intimal, medial and perimedial, which may be associated in a single patient. Angiographic classification includes the multifocal type, with multiple stenoses and the 'string-of-beads' appearance that is related to medial FMD, and tubular and focal types, which are not clearly related to specific histological lesions. Renovascular hypertension is the most common manifestation of renal artery FMD. Multifocal stenoses with the 'string-of-beads' appearance are observed at angiography in more than 80% of cases, mostly in women aged between 30 and 50 years; they generally involve the middle and distal two-thirds of the main renal artery and in some case also renal artery branches. Cervicocranial FMD can be complicated by dissection with headache, Horner's syndrome or stroke, or can be associated with intracerebral aneurysms with a risk of subarachnoid or intracerebral hemorrhage. The etiology of FMD is unknown, although various hormonal and mechanical factors have been suggested. Subclinical lesions are found at arterial sites distant from the stenotic arteries, and this suggests that FMD is a systemic arterial disease. It appears to be familial in 10% of cases. Noninvasive diagnostic tests include, in increasing order of accuracy, ultrasonography, magnetic resonance angiography and computed tomography angiography. The gold standard for diagnosing FMD is catheter angiography, but this invasive procedure is only used for patients in whom it is clinically pertinent to proceed with revascularization during the same procedure. Differential diagnosis include atherosclerotic stenoses and stenoses associated with vascular Ehlers-Danlos and Williams' syndromes, and type 1 neurofibromatosis. Management of cases with renovascular hypertension includes antihypertensive therapy, percutaneous angioplasty of severe stenoses, and reconstructive surgery in cases with complex FMD that extends to segmental arteries. The therapeutic options for securing ruptured intracerebral aneurysms are microvascular neurosurgical clipping and endovascular coiling. Stenosis progression in renal artery FMD is slow and rarely leads to ischemic renal failure.
Project description:Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD) is “an idiopathic, segmental, non-atherosclerotic and non-inflammatory disease of the musculature of arterial walls, leading to stenosis of small and medium-sized arteries” (Persu, et al; 2014). FMD can lead to hypertension, arterial dissections, subarachnoid haemorrhage, stroke or mesenteric ischemia. The pathophysiology of the disease remains elusive. While familial cases are rare (<5%) in contemporary FMD registries, there is evidence in favour of the existence of multiple genetic factors involved in this vascular disease. Recent collaborative efforts allowed the identification of a first genetic locus associated with FMD. This intronic variant located in the phosphatase and actin regulator 1 gene (PHACTR1) may influence the transcription activity of the endothelin-1 gene (EDN1) located nearby on chromosome 6. Interestingly, the PHACTR1 locus has also been involved in vascular hypertrophy in normal subjects, carotid dissection, migraine and coronary artery disease. National and international registries of FMD patients, with deep and harmonised phenotypic and genetic characterisation, are expected to be instrumental to improve our understanding of the genetic basis and pathophysiology of this intriguing vascular disease.
Project description:BACKGROUND:Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a non-inflammatory vascular disease that in children unlike in adults shows no sex predilection. FMD is often underdiagnosed, and its pathophysiology is unclear. Delayed diagnosis may lead to refractory hypertension and decreases the chance of successful treatment. Doppler ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), computed tomography angiography (CTA), and catheter-based angiography (angiography) are currently used to help make a clinicoradiological diagnosis of FMD. The main aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of imaging modalities which can allow for earlier and improved detection. Furthermore, an anatomical mapping of the location of lesions can help determine the best treatment modalities. METHODS:All patients with non-syndromic non-inflammatory renovascular hypertension were recruited from the Nephrology Department at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and enrolled in the U.S. FMD Registry maintained at the University of Michigan. Clinical presentation and imaging findings on US, CT, and MRI of children diagnosed with FMD were evaluated. RESULTS:Mean age at diagnosis was 7?±?4.9 years (4 months-17 years). Family history of hypertension (HTN) (52%), FMD (8.7%), Caucasian (60%), headache (48%), and HTN (80%) were the most prevalent symptom and sign at presentation. Bruits were 100% specific for renal artery stenosis (RAS) diagnosis but were heard in the minority of patients (3 patients, 12%). FMD was mainly unifocal within a single site (68%) or multiple sites (28%) and involved the main or first order renal branch in about 68% of children. Isolated distal lesions beyond the second order branches were found in about 25% of children. US imaging was significantly less sensitive than angiography (28%, p?=?0.003). MRA had a better sensitivity (62.5%, p?=?0.3) than US. Overall, CTA had the best sensitivity (84.2%, p?=?0.4) compared to angiography; however, only angiography showed distal vessel disease. CONCLUSIONS:Limitations of the study include the sample size and biases-only patients diagnosed with FMD were included in this study and most patients were referred to a pediatric nephrologist for unexplained hypertension. Angiography should be performed as part of the initial work-up of any child suspected of having renovascular FMD, regardless of the findings seen on US, MRA, or CTA.
Project description:The burden of cardiovascular disease in women is being increasingly appreciated. Nevertheless, both clinicians and the general public are largely unaware that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide in women in all countries and that outcomes after a heart attack are worse for women than men. Of note, certain types of cardiovascular disease have a predilection for women, including spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD). Although uncommon, SCAD is being increasingly recognised as the cause of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and can recur. It is a potentially fatal, under-diagnosed condition that affects relatively young women, who often have few traditional risk factors, and is the commonest cause of a myocardial infarction associated with pregnancy. In contrast, FMD often remains silent but when manifested can also cause major sequelae, including renal infarction, stroke, cervical artery dissection and gut infarction. Here we provide an update on the diagnosis, aetiology and management of these important disorders that overwhelmingly affect women.
Project description:Background Cervical artery dissection (CeAD) is a frequent manifestation of fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD). However, risk factors for CeAD are unknown. We investigated factors associated with CeAD in the ARCADIA (Assessment of Renal and Cervical Artery Dysplasia) registry. Methods and Results The ARCADIA registry includes women or men aged ≥18 years, with a diagnosis of renal, cervical, or intracranial artery FMD, who were prospectively recruited at 16 university hospitals in France and Belgium. Diagnosis of acute or past CeAD at inclusion was established on imaging according to standard diagnostic criteria. Associations between potential determinants and CeAD were assessed by logistic regression analyses. Among 469 patients (75 men) with FMD, 65 (13.9%) had CeAD. Patients with CeAD were younger, more likely to be men, have a history of migraine, and less likely to have a history of hypertension than patients without CeAD. In the multivariable analysis, male sex (odds ratio [OR], 2.66; 95% CI, 1.34-5.25), history of migraine (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.06-3.39), age ≥50 years (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.23-0.73), history of hypertension (OR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.20-0.64), and involvement of ≥3 vascular beds (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.15-5.40) were significantly associated with CeAD. To validate the association between CeAD and sex, we performed a systematic review. We collected additional data on sex from 2 published studies and unpublished data from the US Registry for Fibromuscular Dysplasia and the European/International FMD Registry. In the pooled analysis (289 CeAD, 1933 patients), male sex was significantly associated with CeAD (OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.41-2.95; I2=0%). Conclusions In patients with FMD, male sex and multisite involvement are associated with CeAD, in addition to other previously known risk factors. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT02884141.
Project description:BackgroundSpontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an increasingly reported but poorly understood condition. Few European data are available.AimsThe aims of this study were to obtain European data on SCAD, determine the prevalence of fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) and enable genetic analyses in this population.MethodsData from a national French registry of SCAD cases were analysed prospectively and retrospectively. Clinical and angiographic data and management strategy were collected. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were analysed after one year of follow-up. Subjects were screened for FMD and blood was collected for DNA extraction.ResultsFrom June 2016 to August 2018, 373 SCAD cases were confirmed by the core lab. Mean age was 51.5 years. Patients were mostly women (90.6%) and 54.7% of cases had less than two cardiovascular risk factors. At one year, 295 patients (79.1%) were treated conservatively, the MACE rate was 12.3%, and there were no cases of mortality. The recurrence rate of SCAD was 3.3%. FMD was found at ≥1 arterial site in 45.0% of cases. We also confirmed the genetic association between the PHACTR1 locus and SCAD (odds ratio=1.66, p=7.08×10-8).ConclusionsHere we describe the DISCO registry, the largest European SCAD cohort where FMD was found in 45% of cases and the genetic association with PHACTR1 was confirmed. This nationwide cohort is a valuable resource for future clinical and genetic investigation to understand SCAD aetiology.