Background: Homocysteine has become to be regarded as an important risk factor of circulatory system diseases recently. The study aimed to assess the relationship between homocysteine plasma concentration in patients with ischemic heart disease and the progression of the coronary atherosclerosis, the degree of left ventricle impairment as well as the severity of the heart failure
symptoms.Material/Methods: The study was conducted on 116 patients who were divided into 4 groups: control group – 37 clinically healthy people, group I – 26 patients with heart failure (HF) in I class according to NYHA (HF-I); group II- 25 patients with HF in II class according to NYHA (HF-II ); group III-28 patients with HF in III class according to NYHA. (HF-III) Total plasma homocysteine concentration was determined by means of fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) method.Results: In all study groups in patients with heart failure there were higher plasma homocysteine concentrations than in controls. Nevertheless, only in patients in groups II and III the differences were statistically significant.Conclusions: 1. Homocysteine plasma concentration is higher in patients with the more advanced isechemic heart disease as well as with more advanced left ventricle impairment.2. The more severity of symptoms of heart failure (higher NYHA class) the higher level of homocysteine plasma concentration.3. The more risk factors in patients with ischemic heart disease the higher level of homocysteine concentration. The observations suggest significant role of hyperhomocysteinemie in the pathogenesis and the development of coronary artery atherosclerosis. They also my suggest the role of homocysteine in the damage to left ventricle.

Keywords: homocysteine, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease