Episodios repetidos de disociación electromecánica en un paciente con angina de Prinzmetal Translated title: Recurrent episodes of electromechanical dissociation in a patient with Prinzmetal angina

To assess the efficacy of medication for the treatment of pure coronary spastic angina, 71 consecutive patients with this diagnosis who had undergone coronary arteriography in a hospital with a follow-up of at least 2 years were studied. All 71 patients without significant organic stenosis were treated with long-acting calcium antagonists. The disappearance of chest pain attacks while receiving medical therapy was observed in 27 patients (38%), whereas the remaining 44 patients (62%) had chest pain attacks. Of special interest, 30 patients had more than one attack per month irrespective of the administration of calcium antagonists or isosorbide dinitrate. Medical treatment showed a good response in female patients (63% vs 31%, respectively; p < 0.05) and those with ST-segment elevation during selective spasm provocation tests (63% vs 30%, respectively; p < 0.05). In contrast, patients with a longer history of chest pain attacks before hospital admission and those with diffuse spasms (77% vs 34%, respectively; p < 0.01) had poor responses to medical treatment. In this study, neither sudden death nor acute myocardial infarction was observed during the follow-up periods. The limitations of medical therapy, including the administration of long-acting calcium antagonists, were observed in 30 of 71 patients (42%) with pure coronary spastic angina. Medical treatment was effective in only 38% of patients with pure coronary spastic angina in Japan. Show more

We have not often encountered variant angina (VA) since the use of long-acting calcium antagonists (L-CAs) became widespread. This study examined the frequency of VA retrospectively. and results: We diagnosed angiographically confirmed coronary spastic angina (CSA) in 349 consecutive patients using selective spasm provocation tests from January 1991 to December 2002. During this period, 3,148 diagnostic cardiac catheterizations and 1,515 selective spasm provocation tests were performed. Seventy-four of these 349 patients (21.2%) had VA. Coronary spasms were defined as transient luminal narrowings of > 99%, and VA was defined as an ST elevation during spontaneous attacks or noninvasive stress tests. We classified the 12 years of the study into four periods of 3 years each. No tendency to decrease for the ratio of the number of patients with CSA and the number of selective spasm provocation tests was observed among the four time periods (18%, 24%, 32%, and 23%, respectively). However, the number of patients with VA (28, 33, 9, and 4) and the VA/CSA ratio (32%, 28%, 14%, and 5%, respectively) in the four group significantly decreased. The frequency of administration of calcium antagonists (CAs) before hospital admission (49% vs 33%, respectively; p 90% of CSA patients who had been medicated with CAs before hospital admission in the last period (from 2000 to 2002), while L-CAs were administered in only 20% in the former period (from 1991 to 1993). The administration of statins and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers before hospital admission gradually increased according to the period passed, but not significantly. The frequency of VA has decreased in Japan, possibly due to the widespread use of therapy with L-CAs. Show more

After hospital discharge, 114 patients with variant angina were followed for a mean period of 26 months. Six died suddenly and 13 others were resuscitated from sudden cardiac death. The extent of coronary disease and the prevalence of left ventricular dysfunction in these 19 "sudden death" patients were similar to those in the patients who did not experience sudden death ("survivors"). During spontaneous episodes of ST elevation recorded in hospital, 56 of the 114 patients had serious arrhythmias: ventricular fibrillation in two, ventricular tachycardia in 28, ventricular couplets or bigeminy in 17, second- or third-degree atrioventricular block in six and asystole in three. Patients with and those without these arrhythmias during attacks were similar with respect to extent of coronary disease, left ventricular function and most other clinical variables. The maximal ST elevation, however, was higher in the arrhythmia group (7.5 +/- 5.7 vs 3.3 +/- 2.3 mm, p less than 0.01). Serious arrhythmias were detected in 16 of the 19 sudden death patients, compared with 36 of the 86 survivors (p less than 0.01). Sudden death occurred during follow-up in 15 of the 36 patients (42%) with ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, high-degree atrioventricular block or asystole during attacks, compared with only four of 69 (6%) without these arrhythmias (p less than 0.001). We conclude that variant angina patients with serious arrhythmias during spontaneous attacks differ from other variant angina patient only in the degree of ischemia during attacks, as reflected by maximal ST elevation, but are at a much higher risk for sudden death. Show more