Aim To investigate difference of endothelium-dependent vasodilation or arterial elasticity in patients with different grade of coronary artery pathologic change.Methods Ninety six subjects were divided into four groups by results of coronary angiography:22 cases of normal coronary artery,20 cases of early coronary artery lesions,54 cases of coronary heart disease;coronary heart disease group was divided into two groups by the Gensini scoring:19 cases of gentle coronary artery lesions(Gensini score<20),35 cases of severe coronary artery lesions(Gensini score≥20).Flow-mediated dilation in the brachial artery was evaluated by ultrasound Doppler flow method.They were also underwent a noninvasive assessment of large artery and small artery elasticity index by using pulse wave analysis.Results The flow-mediated dilation of normal coronary artery,early coronary artery lesions,gentle coronary artery lesions,severe coronary artery lesions were 9.79%±4.33%,8.21%±4.38%,5.34%±3.67% and 4.59%±2.20% respectively.The large artery elasticity index of the four groups were 917.3±315.8,870.7±266.9,849.8±346.7,795.6±134.6 μL/Pa,respectively.The small artery elasticity index of the four groups were 5.05±2.01,4.68±1.43,4.02±2.10,3.23±1.81 mL/Pa respectively.The difference among the four groups was significant on flow-mediated dilation and small artery elasticity index(p<0.05).However,there was no significant difference among the four groups on large artery elasticity index.Conclusions Following the increase of grade of coronary artery pathologic change,the impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation and reduced small artery elasticity index were worsened.The present study suggested that the measurement of flow-mediated dilation or small artery elasticity index might be used as a novel index for the determination of the pathological change grade of coronary artery.