[Relationship between serum lipid level and the state of the coronary arteries in young patients with ischemic heart disease].

Selective coronary angiography was performed and variations of blood serum lipid levels were studied over time in 45 myocardial infarction survivors under 40 years of age. The results showed that the development of myocardial infarction in young individuals is underlied by coronary atherosclerosis. Hyperlipidemia was elicited in a larger proportion of cases as compared to changes on coronary angiograms, since the latter record only marked alterations whereas the initial stage of the active atherosclerotic process is manifested in changed lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in the blood serum in the absence of any changes on coronary angiograms. Functional impairments of the coronary circulation were implicated in the genesis of myocardial infarction only in 17% of the patients.