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Panic disorder: coronary spasm as a basis for cardiac risk?
Author(s) -
Mansour Virginia M,
Thompson Jane M,
Esler Murray D,
Wilkinson Dominic J C,
Jennings Garry L,
Schwarz Rosemary G
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1998.tb138992.x
Subject(s) - panic disorder , panic , chest pain , medicine , cardiology , angina , myocardial infarction , anxiety , psychiatry
Patients with panic disorder often complain of angina‐like chest pain during panic attacks, but this is not usually considered life‐threatening. We describe three patients with panic disorder and documented cardiac ischaemia during episodes of chest pain. In two, it progressed to myocardial infarction. As none had atherosclerosis evident at coronary angiography, the mechanism was presumed to be coronary artery spasm. These cases illustrate that pain typical of angina during panic attacks may have an organic cause.