Overlapping Genetic Background of Coronary Artery and Carotid/Femoral Atherosclerotic Calcification.

Calcification of atherosclerotic plaques is moderately heritable in all investigated arteries and significant overlapping genetic factors can be attributed to the phenotypical resemblance of coronary and carotid or femoral atherosclerotic calcification. Our findings support the idea of screening extracoronary arteries in asymptomatic individuals. We also propose a hypothesis about primarily carotid-coronary and femoral-coronary atherosclerosis as two distinct genetic predispositions to co-localization.