We compared distal coronary hemodynamics and regional myocardial perfusion in anesthetized dogs in the presence of a single or two
coronary artery stenoses in series. After application of either a single or two
stenoses on the left anterior descending coronary artery, regional myocardial blood flow was measured with radioactive
microspheres. Moderate degrees of single-vessel
stenosis (no change in resting coronary blood flow but reduction in reactive hyperemic response of 70%) resulted in no significant change in regional myocardial perfusion at rest despite a pressure drop across the
stenosis of 24 +/- 3 mm Hg. When two such
stenoses were applied in series, there was
a 91% decrease in
reactive hyperemia, a significant reduction in resting diastolic coronary blood flow and a 51 +/- 7 mm Hg pressure drop across the two
stenoses. Alone, each
stenosis produced no change in regional myocardial perfusion; however, together the two
stenoses resulted in a significant decrease in subendocardial blood flow and a redistribution of transmural perfusion within the ischemic zone favoring the subepicardium (endo/epi from 0.95 +/- 0.03 to 0.72 +/- 0.03). The results indicate that whereas resting subendocardial perfusion is not significantly affected by moderate degrees of a single
coronary artery stenosis, multiple
stenoses of the same severity may dramatically reduce subendocardial perfusion.