Atypical chest pain with normal coronary vessels: clinical study and follow-up of 22 patients
Villegas García, M.; García Alberola, A.; Molina Laborda, E.; Campos Peris, J.V.; Ruiz Ros, J.A.; Pico Aracil, F.; Ruipérez Abizanda, J.A.
Archivos del Instituto de Cardiologia de Mexico 58(1): 10-14
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-3785 PMID: 2967057 Document Number: 315842
22 patients with normal coronarography but with angina pectoris or angina-like chest pain without evidence of coronary spasms are reviewed. We studied clinical characteristics, basal and exercise electrocardiography and other tests used to obtain a diagnosis, although only in one patient were we able to find an esophageal pathology which caused the clinical picture. After 20.7 +/- 14.4 months follow-up no patients had myocardial infarction or acute coronary events. Most of them still experience chest pain, are physically limited and use antianginal drugs. The fact that their coronarograms were normal decreased significantly the number of admissions to hospital (2.4 +/- 3.3 vs 0.26 +/- 0.95, P less than 0.02) and the amount of drugs prescribed. The lack of improvement of most of them seems to justify the need for other studies looking for a positive diagnosis and other types of treatment.