The real world in the clinic before and after the establishment of guidelines for coronary artery spasm: a questionnaire for members of the Japanese Cine-angio Association

Abstract

We investigated the clinical situations and the present knowledge of Japanese cardiologists about coronary artery spasm before and after the establishment of guidelines for this condition in the real world. A questionnaire was developed regarding the number of cases of coronary angiography, percutaneous coronary intervention, and invasive/non-invasive spasm provocation tests before (2008) and after (2014) the establishment of the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS) guidelines for coronary artery spasm and the status of spasm provocation tests. The questionnaire was sent to members of the Japanese Cine-angio Association in 81 cardiology hospitals in Japan. The completed surveys were returned from 20 hospitals, giving a response rate of 24.7%. Pharmacological spasm provocation tests increased in 2014 and vasospastic angina and variant angina also increased in 2014 compared with 2008, but the increase was not significant. Non-invasive spasm provocation tests such as hyperventilation tests and cold stress tests decreased remarkably in 2014. Spasm provocation tests were initially performed in the left coronary artery was employed in just 30% of the hospitals. The majority of institutions did not perform the spasm provocation testing in patients with unknown causes of heart failure or in survivors of ventricular fibrillation. Although 40% of the hospitals were not satisfied with standard spasm provocation tests, the majority of the hospitals agreed that spasm provocation tests will be necessary in the future. In general, the JCS guidelines contributed to the widespread use of provocative testing for coronary artery spasm in the real world. However, some issues about spasm still remained in the clinic.