- regarding the group of CAD patients, we only included patients without history of ST elevation myocardial infarction in order to exclude the presence of transmural scar compromising myocardial function indices. Thus, CAD patients with wall motion abnormalities and ejection fraction of ≤ 50% were excluded. In addition, exclusion criteria, were history of acute coronary syndrome without ST-segment elevation within the last year, familial hyperlipidemia, insulin dependent-diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma, moderate or severe valvular heart disease, primary cardiomyopathies and malignant tumor