Category: Research

Research

A Short History of Vasospastic Angina

The syndrome of chest pain and/or myocardial ischemia with normal or nonobstructive coronary arteries at angiography is common and is of practical importance to the general medical audience. Many studies have tried to address this topic over the last 4 decades. Only 1 thing is clear: for patients with ongoing signs and symptoms of ischemia in acute coronary syndromes, the prognosis is not so favorable, as believed earlier in the 1990s. Yet, physicians remain confused by other patients who refer a history of effort angina or angina-like chest pain whose coronary angiograms show no evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and who have no structural heart disease.

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Research

ChaMP-CMD: A Phenotype-Blinded, Randomized Controlled, Cross-Over Trial

Angina with nonobstructive coronary arteries is a common condition for which no effective treatment has been established. We hypothesized that the measurement of coronary flow reserve (CFR) allows identification of patients with angina with nonobstructive coronary arteries who would benefit from anti-ischemic therapy.

Patients with angina with nonobstructive coronary arteries underwent blinded invasive CFR measurement and were randomly assigned to receive 4 weeks of amlodipine or ranolazine. After a 1-week washout, they crossed over to the other drug for 4 weeks; final assessment was after the cessation of study medication for another 4 weeks.

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Research

Invasive Endotyping in Patients With Angina and No Obstructive Coronary...

We investigated the usefulness of invasive coronary function testing to diagnose the cause of angina in patients with no obstructive coronary arteries.

Outpatients referred for coronary computed tomography angiography in 3 hospitals in the United Kingdom were prospectively screened. After coronary computed tomography angiography, patients with unobstructed coronary arteries, and who consented, underwent invasive endotyping.

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Research

Sex-specific and ethnicity-specific differences in MINOCA

Suspected myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) has received increasing attention over the past decade. Given the heterogeneity in the mechanisms underlying acute myocardial infarction in the absence of obstructive coronary arteries, the syndrome of MINOCA is considered a working diagnosis that requires further investigation after diagnostic angiography studies have been performed, including coronary magnetic resonance angiography and functional angiography.

Although once considered an infrequent and low-risk form of myocardial infarction, recent data have shown that the prognosis of MINOCA is not as benign as previously assumed. However, despite increasing awareness of the condition, many questions remain regarding the diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment of MINOCA.

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Research

JCS/CVIT/JCC 2023 guideline focused update on diagnosis and treatment of...

In 2008, the Guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of patients with vasospastic angina (coronary spastic angina) were developed by the Japanese Circulation Society, and the revised version was published in 2013. Since then, new findings from various fields such as coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD), biomarkers, imaging, physiological functions, and genes have accumulated.

Furthermore, together with the spread of emergency coronary angiography (CAG) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the development of diagnostic techniques using high-sensitive troponin, the new concepts of myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) and ischemia with non-obstructive coronary artery disease (INOCA) have been proposed.

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Research

Novel therapy for ischaemia with no obstructive coronary arteries

Coronary vascular dysfunction causes microvascular angina and vasospastic angina, which are prevalent clinical endotypes of myocardial ischaemia with no obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA). INOCA impairs quality of life and confers an increased likelihood of cardiovascular events and health resource utilization.

Contemporary advances in non-invasive and invasive testing facilitate an accurate diagnosis and linked therapy. New guideline recommendations and patient advocacy are also relevant. Nonetheless, a lack of disease-modifying therapy for INOCA perpetuates the medical need.

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Research

Raising awareness about cardiovascular disease in women

Each year, cardiovascular disease maintains its status as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in women. In their most recent published statistics, the World Health Organization showed that ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and hypertension resulted in over 7.5 million deaths in women globally in 2019.

This trend is similar to the mortality burden in men and is echoed by countries worldwide. Despite this, there remains a significant male predominance in practically all clinical trials measuring the safety and efficacy of investigations and management of cardiovascular disease, which ultimately directs clinical guidelines.

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Research

Management of vasospastic angina

Vasospastic angina is a well-established cause of chest pain that is caused by coronary artery spasm. It can be clinically diagnosed during a spontaneous episode by documenting nitrate-responsive rest angina with associated transient ischaemic ECG changes but more often requires provocative coronary spasm testing with acetylcholine during coronary angiography.

Vasospastic angina may result in recurrent episodes of angina (including nocturnal angina), which can progress on to major adverse cardiac events. Calcium channel blockers are first-line therapy for this condition, given their anti-anginal and cardioprotective benefits.

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Research

Migraine and cardiovascular disease: what cardiologists should know

Migraine is a chronic neurovascular disease with a complex, not fully understood pathophysiology with multiple causes. People with migraine suffer from recurrent moderate to severe headache attacks varying from 4 to 72 h. The prevalence of migraine is two to three times higher in women compared with men.

Importantly, it is the most disabling disease in women over 50 years of age due to a high number of years lived with disability, resulting in a very high global socioeconomic burden. Robust evidence exists on the association between migraine with aura and increased incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), in particular ischaemic stroke. People with migraine with aura have an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death compared with those without migraine.

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Research

Functional coronary angiography for the assessment of the epicardial vessels...

Over the last decade, steady progress has been made in the ability to assess coronary stenosis relevance by merging computerised analyses of angiograms with fluid dynamic modelling.

The new field of functional coronary angiography (FCA) has attracted the attention of both clinical and interventional cardiologists as it anticipates a new era of facilitated physiological assessment of coronary artery disease, without the need for intracoronary instrumentation or vasodilator drug administration, and an increased adoption of ischaemia-driven revascularisation.

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Research

Coronary Microvascular Spasm: Clinical Presentation and Diagnosis

Professor Maseri pioneered the research and treatment of coronary vasomotion abnormalities represented by coronary vasospasm and coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD).

These mechanisms can cause myocardial ischaemia even in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease, and have been appreciated as an important aetiology and therapeutic target with major clinical implications in patients with ischaemia with non-obstructive coronary artery disease (INOCA). Coronary microvascular spasm is one of the key mechanisms responsible for myocardial ischaemia in patients with INOCA.

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Research

Design and rationale of the NetherLands registry of invasive Coronary...

Angina without angiographic evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease (ANOCA) is a highly prevalent condition with insufficient pathophysiological knowledge and lack of evidence-based medical therapies. This affects ANOCA patients prognosis, their healthcare utilization and quality of life.

In current guidelines, performing a coronary function test (CFT) is recommended to identify a specific vasomotor dysfunction endotype. The NetherLands registry of invasive Coronary vasomotor Function testing (NL-CFT) has been designed to collect data on ANOCA patients undergoing CFT in the Netherlands.

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Around The World

Real Patient Stories

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Sinéad’s story

My first episode caught me completely off guard on a Sunday morning in 2014. I was an active, healthy 35-year-old mother of 3. It felt like what I imagined having a heart attack would feel like. After a minute or two it stopped as suddenly as it had started and I got out of bed to start my day, I had experienced palpitations before and brushed it off as a once off.

I had about 8 more episodes before lunch time and made a deal with myself that if it continued, I would call an ambulance. I was a busy mum and didn’t want to be ‘dramatic’! It resolved by 2 p.m.

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Suzanne’s story

In February 2020, I had a VF cardiac arrest.

My memories start a week after the event when I awoke in ICU.

I was confused and initially unable to move. My family were at my bedside and told me what had happened.

Amazingly, I had survived not only the arrest, but also aspiration pneumonia, sepsis and a stage 3 acute kidney injury requiring dialysis.

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Arthur’s story

My name is Arthur. I am a Scot but have lived in London for nearly forty years.

In 2014, I had my first heart attack. In the following six years, I went to A&E at least twice a year. Every time, I was sent home and was told it was reflux.

My own doctor in about 2015/16 put me on half an angina pill. When I was in hospital, I was told by the cardiology doctors that I did not need it as I never had angina at all.

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CORONARY VASOSPASMMICROVASCULAR ANGINA

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