Clinical Cohort Study - INTERCATH

Within a CAD patient cohort there is a wide variability of clinical manifestation and severity of coronary disease. Distinct determinants that would explain the variety of CAD phenotypes with differing prognosis are yet undiscovered. Aim of this study is to find genetic variants, biomarkers, and clinical cardiovascular risk factors that relate to specific coronary artery disease phenotypes and related pathologies in a patient population.

Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death in industrialized countries and accounts for a high lifetime prevalence. Within a CAD patient cohort there is a broad inter-individual difference with regard to clinical manifestation and severity of disease, e.g. stable angina vs. acute coronary syndrome, calcified vs. thrombotic coronary lesions or one vessel vs. complex three vessel disease or left main stenosis. Thus, depending on the CAD phenotype there is a broad difference in CAD patients' prognosis. Similarly, other non-atherosclerotic coronary pathologies such as Spontaneous Coronary Dissection (SCAD) are related with devastating illness in mainly young patients. For these patients there is an unmet need in the knowledge of epidemiology, presentation, current management and outcome. Aim of this study is to discover genetic variants, biomarkers, and clinical cardiovascular risk factors that relate to specific CAD (and related coronary pathologies) phenotypes in a national patient population. This may allow an improvement of individualized risk stratification and contribute to discover pathways in the pathogenesis and open the avenue for potential therapeutic targets.