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Inflammation within vulnerable coronary plaques may cause unstable angina by promoting rupture and erosion. In unstable angina, activated leukocytes may be found in peripheral and coronary-sinus blood, but it is unclear whether they are selectively activated in the vascular bed of the culprit stenosis.

We measured the content neutrophil myeloperoxidase content in the cardiac and femoral circulations in five groups of patients: two groups with unstable angina and stenosis in either the left anterior descending coronary artery (24 patients) or the right coronary artery (9 patients); 13 with chronic stable angina; 13 with variant angina and recurrent ischemia; and 6 controls. Blood samples were taken from the aorta, the femoral vein, and the great cardiac vein, which selectively drains blood from the left but not the right coronary artery.

The neutrophil myeloperoxidase content of aortic …