OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor (statin) suppresses coronary spasm. BACKGROUND Coronary spasm is associated with endothelial dysfunction. Statins have been shown to improve endothelial function. METHODS This was a prospective, randomized, open-label, end point study. Sixty-four patients who had no sign...

A 48-year-old man developed severe chest pain and became unconscious. Coronary cineangiography revealed single coronary artery of the type L2b by Sharbaugh and White. Ergonovine, 0.2 mg i.v., produced coronary arterial spasm in the right coronary artery. This case suggests that coronary arterial spasm might be a cause of sudden death in patients with single coronary artery. However, an associat...

Spontaneous coronary artery vasospasm is one of the important causes of acute chest pain syndromes. The diagnosis of diffuse multifocal spasm can be quite challenging and it could be easily mistaken for diffuse coronary artery disease. The use of intracoronary nitroglycerin can relieve spasm and reveal the real extent of coronary artery disease. Herein we present a case presenting with acute my...

Native coronary artery spasm after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is scarce. It frequently causes disastrous circulatory collapse. We report a 72-yr-old male, who experienced native coronary artery spasm and grafted artery spasm following CABG, which was successfully treated with coronary angiography and intracoronary injection of nitroglycerine.

OBJECTIVES We aimed to test the hypothesis that coronary microvascular spasm (MVS) alone causes myocardial ischemia in patients with angina attributable to epicardial coronary spasm, and to determine whether there is a difference in clinical characteristics between those with and without microvascular spasm. BACKGROUND Patients with "vasospastic angina" have epicardial coronary artery spasm, ...

Of 552 patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty 102 had coronary artery spasm superimposed on atherosclerotic narrowing. Coronary angioplasty was successful in 97 (95%). The patients were discharged on a regimen of nifedipine (40-60 mg/day). Seventy six patients were symptom free 6-8 months after the procedure. Restenosis was detected in 35% of patients. Coronary arter...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to determine whether lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]) is an independent risk factor for coronary spasm and occurrence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with coronary spasm. BACKGROUND Although elevated serum Lp(a) levels are known to be associated with coronary atherosclerosis and AMI, the association between the elevated level of this lipoprotein ...

Focal coronary spasm is often associated with an area of mural plaque disease. This report describes a patient with recurrent severe coronary spasm unresponsive to medical treatment. Coronary arteriography and intravascular ultrasound identified a candidate area of minor coronary atheromatous disease but ergonovine provocation testing showed the spastic coronary segment to be distal to and dist...

Variant angina is a form of angina pectoris that shows transient ST-segment elevation on electrocardiogram during an attack of chest pain. Ischemic episodes of variant angina show circadian variation and often occur at rest from midnight to early morning. Ischemic episodes also occur during mild exercise in the early morning. However, they are not usually induced by strenuous exercise in the af...

long-term prognosis of vasospastic angina patients who survived out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: multicenter registry study of the Japanese Coronary Spasm Association. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol 2011;4:295–302. 137. Takagi Y, Yasuda S, Takahashi J, Tsunoda R, Ogata Y, Seki A, Sumiyoshi T, Matsui M, Goto T, Tanabe Y, Sueda S, Sato T, Ogawa S, Kubo N, Momomura S, Ogawa H, Shimokawa H. Japanese C...