Smoking chokes the heart

Cigarette smoking contributes to heart disease by choking off the heart’s blood supply, according to a study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. The by-products of smoking damage the linings of arteries and promote the build-up of blood vessel-clogging plaque.

This is the first study to demonstrate that the harmful effects of smoking extend beyond the heart’s large arteries into the network of tiny blood vessels that supply blood to most of the heart muscle.

These small vessels are not visible during angiography, a standard x-ray procedure that detects blood flow abnormalities.

Researchers in London and Zurich used positron emission tomography (PET) to measure blood flow through coronary arteries in 11 smokers and 8 non-smokers.

They found that the additional blood supply that should be available to the heart during stress was reduced by 21 percent in smokers compared with the non-smokers.

"Smokers had less blood supply to their hearts, which is an indicator of future heart attacks or strokes," said the study’s lead author Philipp A. Kaufmann, M.D., and assistant professor at University Hospital in Zurich.

Individuals in the study did not have symptoms of existing heart disease.