Angina in Patients with Non-obstructive Coronary Angiograms: Six-years Follow-up

Abstract

<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Background and Aim: </strong>About one third of patients undergoing coronary angiography for angina have non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Until recent years the prognosis has been thought to be favourable and no treatment were recommended. More recently, an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events has been documented in these patients compared with a general population. We aimed to evaluate the long term persistence of angina and the occurrence of major CV events in patients with stable angina and non-obstructive CAD.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Methods: </strong>We retrospectively evaluated all patients with effort angina referred to the cardiac catheterization laboratory of the Cardiovascular Unit, University of Catania, Sicily, between 1<sup>st</sup> July 2008 and 31<sup>st</sup> December 2009, because of a clinical suspicion of myocardial ischemia, without obstructive CAD, defined as <50% stenosis of left main stem or <70% in any epicardial coronary artery.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Results: </strong>Among 2574 patients (2025 men and 549 women) referred for diagnostic coronary angiography, 151 (5.8%) had non-obstructive coronary angiograms. Six-years follow-up was available in 127 patients (63 men and 64 women). Persistence of angina was reported in 20.4%. Four patients (3.1%) had acute myocardial infarction and two (1.6%) had stroke.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Conclusion: </strong>During a six-years follow-up, persistence of angina and occurrence of acute major CV events were found in a significant proportion of patients with stable angina and non-obstructive coronary angiograms.</span></p>