Morphometric Analysis of Coronary Arteries: An Autopsy Study from a Tertiary Hospital at Kolar, Karnataka, India
EC16-EC19
Correspondence
Dr. Kalyani Raju,
Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar-563103, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: drkalyanir@rediffmail.com
Introduction: The incidence and prevalence of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) are rising worldwide, particularly in India. CAD can be asymptomatic in the general population.
Aim: To analyse the significance of morphometric measurements of the coronary arteries in autopsy cases of unnatural deaths.
Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional autopsy study conducted from January to December 2020 in the Department of Pathology in collaboration with the Department of Forensic Medicine at Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, Karnataka, India. Cases of deaths due to unnatural causes were considered. Morphometric parameters such as Luminal Area (LA), Internal Elastic Lamina Area (IELA), External Elastic Lamina Area (EELA), width of the intima at maximal thickness, width of the media at maximal thickness, intimal area, medial area, percentage of luminal narrowing, Intimal Thickness Index (ITI), and Intima to Media Ratio (IMR) were estimated using a Zeiss microscope on Verhoeff-Van-Gieson (VVG) stained tissue sections and analysed with ZEN software. All data were entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0.
Results: A total of 80 autopsy cases were considered for the current research, of which 62 were males and 18 were females. The mean age of the cases was 37.6 years. Two cases (11.1%) among females and nine cases (14.5%) among males had asymptomatic atherosclerotic lesions in their coronary arteries. With increasing age, the percentage of asymptomatic atherosclerotic cases also increased. The p-values for the width of the intima at maximal intimal thickness and IMR were 0.005 and 0.027, respectively, between the non atherosclerotic and atherosclerotic groups.
Conclusion: The morphometric parameters, such as the width of the intima at maximal intimal thickness and IMR, predict the presence of atherosclerotic lesions/CAD in the asymptomatic general population. This information can be used to implement preventive measures and inform health policy by the medical community.