Tag: diagnosis

Research

Predicting the response to acetylcholine in ischemia or infarction with...

Acetylcholine (ACh) provocation testing can detect vasomotor disorders in patients with ischemia and non-obstructed coronary arteries (INOCA) or myocardial infarction and non-obstructed coronary arteries (MINOCA). We aimed to derive and validate a simple risk score to predict a positive ACh test response.

We prospectively enrolled consecutive INOCA and MINOCA patients undergoing ACh provocation testing. Patients were split in two cohorts (derivation and validation) according to time of enrolment. The score was derived in 386 patients (derivation cohort) and then validated in 165 patients (validation cohort).

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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

Invasive and non-invasive assessment of ischaemia in chronic coronary syndromes:...

Intracoronary physiology testing has emerged as a valuable diagnostic approach in the management of patients with chronic coronary syndrome, circumventing limitations like inferring coronary function from anatomical assessment and low spatial resolution associated with angiography or non-invasive tests.

The value of hyperaemic translesional pressure ratios to estimate the functional relevance of coronary stenoses is supported by a wealth of prognostic data. The continuing drive to further simplify this approach led to the development of non-hyperaemic pressure-based indices. Recent attention has focussed on estimating physiology without even measuring coronary pressure.

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Research

Microvascular Angina: Diagnosis and Management

Recognition of suspected ischaemia with no obstructive coronary artery disease – termed INOCA – has increased over the past decades, with a key contributor being microvascular angina. Patients with microvascular angina are at higher risk for major adverse cardiac events including MI, stroke, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and death but to date there are no clear evidence-based guidelines for diagnosis and treatment.

Recently, the Coronary Vasomotion Disorders International Study Group proposed standardised criteria for diagnosis of microvascular angina using invasive and non-invasive approaches. The management strategy remains empirical, largely due to the lack of high-level evidence-based guidelines and clinical trials. In this review, the authors will illustrate the updated approach to the diagnosis of microvascular angina and address evidence-based pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for patients with the condition.

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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.

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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.

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Research

Clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with microvascular angina: an...

To provide multi-national, multi-ethnic data on the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with microvascular angina (MVA). The Coronary Vasomotor Disorders International Study Group proposed the diagnostic criteria for MVA. We prospectively evaluated the clinical characteristics of patients according to these criteria and their prognosis.

The primary endpoint was the composite of major cardiovascular events (MACE), verified by institutional investigators, which included cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and hospitalization due to heart failure or unstable angina.

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Research

An EAPCI Expert Consensus Document on Ischaemia with Non-Obstructive Coronary...

This consensus document, a summary of the views of an expert panel organized by the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI), appraises the importance of ischaemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA).

Angina pectoris affects approximately 112 million people globally. Up to 70% of patients undergoing invasive angiography do not have obstructive coronary artery disease, more common in women than in men, and a large proportion have INOCA as a cause of their symptoms.

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Real Patient Stories

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Mary’s story

First came the headaches – worse than migraines – then the shortness of breath and having to lay down after crossing the room.

Five months after my symptoms began, I was diagnosed with a 99% blockage in my LAD and 99% blockage in an artery branch off that.

I was stented and, in doing so, they jailed an artery. I was given Metoprolol and I got worse.

I underwent another Angiogram, and all was fine, so they changed my medication and I began to use my Nitro more.

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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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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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