Open AccessNoninvasive demonstration of underlying severe coronary disease in patients with vasospastic angina
Author(s) -
Kawashima S.,
Yokoyama M.,
Sakamoto S.,
Akita H.,
Fujitani K.,
Kobayashi K.,
Mizutani T.,
Fukuzaki H.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960100606
Subject(s) - medicine , vasospastic angina , cardiology , angina , coronary disease , coronary artery disease , disease , coronary heart disease , myocardial infarction
Dipyridamole test, isoproterenol test, and treadmill exercise test were performed in two groups of patients with vasospastic angina (Group 1: 10 patients with 70% or greater coronary narrowings, Group 2: 8 patients with narrowings less than 70%. The results were correlated with coronary anatomy. In Group 1, vasodilation of resistance vessels by dipyridamole elicited ischemic episodes in 9 patients and an increase in myocardial oxygen consumption by isoproterenol caused anginal attacks in 7 patients. None of patients of Group 2 showed positive responses to either drug. All patients of Group 1, and 3 patients of Group 2 gave positive responses to treadmill test. These observations show that several different mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of my ocardial ischemia in patients with vasospastic angina. Pharmacological interventions have higher specificity than exercise tests in predicting coronary anatomy and are useful for the choice of therapy in these patients.