Category: Research

Research

What an Interventionalist Needs to Know About MI with Non-obstructive...

MI with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) is caused by a heterogeneous group of vascular or myocardial disorders. MINOCA occurs in 5–15% of patients presenting with acute ST-segment elevation MI or non-ST segment elevation MI and prognosis is impaired.

The diagnosis of MINOCA is made during coronary angiography following acute MI, where there is no stenosis ≥50% present in an infarct-related epicardial artery and no overt systemic aetiology for the presentation. Accurate diagnosis and subsequent management require the appropriate utilisation of intravascular imaging, coronary function testing and subsequent imaging to assess for myocardial disorders without coronary involvement.

Read More »
Research

Microvascular Angina: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment

In patients with angina symptoms but with no coronary artery disease, as revealed by normal or near-normal coronary angiogram, a potential diagnosis of microvascular angina (MVA) might be considered.

This review examines the evidence on long-term prognosis, state-of-the-art assessment and treatment strategies, and the overwhelming need for standardisation of diagnostic pathways in this patient population. The rising clinical relevance of MVA is explored along with how the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease on coronary angiography may not be a guarantee of benign prognosis in this patient subgroup.

Read More »
Research

1-Year Outcomes of Angina Management Guided by Invasive Coronary Function...

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that invasive coronary function testing at time of angiography could help stratify management of angina patients without obstructive coronary artery disease. Medical therapy for angina guided by invasive coronary vascular function testing holds promise, but the longer-term effects on quality of life and clinical events are unknown among patients without obstructive disease.

A total of 151 patients with angina with symptoms and/or signs of ischemia and no obstructive coronary artery disease were randomized to stratified medical therapy guided by an interventional diagnostic procedure versus standard care (control group with blinded interventional diagnostic procedure results).

Read More »
Research

How to Diagnose and Manage Angina Without Obstructive Coronary Artery...

Patients with symptoms and/or signs of ischaemia but no obstructive coronary artery disease (INOCA) present a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Microvascular and/or vasospastic angina are the two most common causes of INOCA; however, invasive coronary angiography lacks the sensitivity to diagnose these functional coronary disorders.

In this article, the authors summarise the rationale for invasive testing in the absence of obstructive coronary disease, namely that correct treatment for angina patients starts with the correct diagnosis. They provide insights from the CORonary MICrovascular Angina (CorMicA) study, where an interventional diagnostic procedure was performed with linked medical therapy to improve patient health.

Read More »
Research

Vasospastic angina: A literature review of current evidence

Vasospastic angina (VSA) is a variant form of angina pectoris, in which angina occurs at rest, with transient electrocardiogram modifications and preserved exercise capacity. VSA can be involved in many clinical scenarios, such as stable angina, sudden cardiac death, acute coronary syndrome, arrhythmia or syncope.

Coronary vasospasm is a heterogeneous phenomenon that can occur in patients with or without coronary atherosclerosis, can be focal or diffuse, and can affect epicardial or microvasculature coronary arteries. This disease remains underdiagnosed, and provocative tests are rarely performed.

Read More »
Research

Coronary microvascular dysfunction in stable ischaemic heart disease

Diffuse and focal epicardial coronary disease and coronary microvascular abnormalities may exist side-by-side. Identifying the contributions of each of these three players in the coronary circulation is a difficult task.

Yet identifying coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) as an additional player in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) may provide explanations of why symptoms may persist frequently following and why global coronary flow reserve may be more prognostically important than fractional flow reserve measured in a single vessel before percutaneous coronary intervention.

Read More »
Research

Interplay Between Myocardial Bridging and Coronary Spasm in Patients With...

Myocardial bridging (MB) may represent a cause of myocardial ischemia in patients with non‐obstructive coronary artery disease (NOCAD). Herein, we assessed the interplay between MB and coronary vasomotor disorders, also evaluating their prognostic relevance in patients with myocardial infarction and non‐obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) or stable NOCAD.

We prospectively enrolled patients with NOCAD undergoing intracoronary acetylcholine provocative test. The incidence of major adverse cardiac events, defined as the composite of cardiac death, non‐fatal myocardial infarction, and rehospitalization for unstable angina, was assessed at follow‐up.

Read More »
Research

Small vessel disease

Small vessel disease is a condition in which the walls of the small arteries in the heart are damaged. The condition causes signs and symptoms of heart disease, such as chest pain (angina).

Small vessel disease is sometimes called coronary microvascular disease or small vessel heart disease. It’s often diagnosed after a doctor finds little or no narrowing in the main arteries of your heart, despite your having symptoms that suggest heart disease.

Small vessel disease is more common in women and in people who have diabetes or high blood pressure. The condition is treatable but can be difficult to detect.

Read More »
Research

Treatment of coronary microvascular dysfunction

Contemporary data indicate that patients with signs and symptoms of ischaemia and non-obstructive coronary artery disease (INOCA) often have coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) with elevated risk for adverse outcomes. Coronary endothelial (constriction with acetylcholine) and/or microvascular (limited coronary flow reserve with adenosine) dysfunction are well-documented, and extensive non-obstructive atherosclerosis is often present.

Despite these data, patients with INOCA currently remain under-treated, in part, because existing management guidelines do not address this large, mostly female population due to the absence of evidence-based data.

Read More »
Research

Testing for Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction

The small blood vessels in the heart, called the coronary microvasculature, carry most of the blood flow to the heart muscle, delivering oxygen. These blood vessels can become unhealthy when there is damage to their inner lining. There can also be plaque buildup in the larger coronary arteries that does not narrow them but can contribute to abnormal blood flow.

Over time, this leads to abnormal widening or narrowing of the small vessels in response to exercise or stress, which can cause problems with the blood supply to the heart, causing chest pain, shortness of breath, heart attack, and heart failure.

Read More »
Around The World

Real Patient Stories

Explore more

Barbara’s story

I am a 62-year-old retired physician. My story began at age 47.

I was a very busy practicing OB/Gyn physician who was otherwise healthy.

I was on call at the hospital, and it was turning out to be one of the busiest days I had ever experienced as a physician. I was in a medical group that took call for 24 hours straight, most of the time working the entire 24 hours.

Halfway through that 24-hour call, I was in the operating room doing a C/Section on a patient. Halfway through the surgery I began to feel crushing chest pain.

Read More »

Charlotte’s story

While at work in September 2014, I lost vision of my left eye and had terrible feeling of “heat” all over the left side of my body.

The ER ophthalmologist directed me to cardiology for a vascular problem.

A week later, I could not walk 100 meters (325 feet) without crushing chest pain and shortness of breath.

I was no longer functional. Making my bed was all I could do in a whole day. I was no longer an active 54-year-old.

Read More »

Don’s story

I consider myself one of the lucky ones.

I was a runner, triathlete, skier, scuba diver, etc. before my problems got severe enough to seek medical help.

Most doctors took my health decline seriously from the start.

Later, it was not uncommon for doctors who were unaware of my athletic endeavours to assume my subsequent lack of fitness was the cause of my condition rather than the result.

Read More »

Get Informed

Learn all about the symptoms, causes and triggers of these heart conditions.

CORONARY VASOSPASMMICROVASCULAR ANGINA

Educate. Inform. Enlighten.