Dimensions of the Coronary Arteries in Children

Abstract

The extent of narrowing of the coronary arteries was measured in a series of 106 children who died accidentally. The outer radius of left main stem coronary artery increases from 1.06 mm at the age of 1 to 1.67 mm at 15. The left anterior descending branch increased with age from 0.70 to 1.35 mm and the inner radius from 0.55 to 1.10 mm. The mean thickness of the media and intima also increased with age; the correlation between thickness and weight was less pronounced. The coronary arteries thickened concomitantly with the size of the artery but that was due mainly to thickening of the intima. Substantial narrowing was found in the youngest age groups and the extent did not correlate with age but with the size of the vessel. The greatest narrowing was 57% of the arterial lumen. The measured dimensions will serve as normal values for the coronary arteries in Finnish children at autopsy.