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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
How to Best Treat Microvascular Angina
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests
How to Best Treat Microvascular Angina
by Gregory Gomez, Oct 15, 1999 12:00AM
Greetings:
Let me thank you sincerely for your
forum; I have learned so much from
it.
I may have microvascular angina.
What is the best way to treat it
using medicine, diet, exercise,
meditation, and so forth?
I have had nine attacks of angina
these past four months. These attacks
have ranged from moderate to severe.
I was hospitalized twice and I have
been seen by two cardiologists. One
cardiologist said I had mitral valve
prolapse, which could not be verified
with an echo cardiogram, and the
second doctor claimed that my heart
was not the source of the problem.
I have had two heart thallium tests,
two angiograms, two echo cardiograms,
and one stress test in the past four
months.
The first heart thallium test was
normal, whereas the second one
showed that two areas of my heart were
not receiving enough blood.
The first angiogram either showed
a 35% blockage in two of my coronary
arteries or that my arteries
went into spasm during the test.
The second angiogram showed no
blockages.
The echo cardiograms showed that
the posterior walls of my heart
did thicken to the same degree
as the anterior portions when both
were oxygenated with blood.
My stress test showed an abnormality
(I believe in the ST segment) after
I was on the treadmill for 30 seconds.
A small amount of Troponin was found
in my blood the last time I was
hospitalized.
I am 48, and do not drink, smoke,
or use street drugs. I am not over
weight and have been physically
active all my adult life.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Best regards,
Greg
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD JMF, Oct 16, 1999 12:00AM
Dear Greg,
You may want to be evaluated for some experimental programs that promote angiogenesis using a medication called VEGF to gro new vessels in teritories.
You may be a candidate for some of these procedures. The contact person at our insitution is Marcia Lwry. she can be reached through our operators.
Unfortunately we do not have standard therapies to address microvascular disease. I would recommend a full evaluation to make sure that you are not insulin resistant and control this hyperinsulinemia if it occurs in your case.
You may want to be evaluated for some experimental programs that promote angiogenesis using a medication called VEGF to gro new vessels in teritories.
You may be a candidate for some of these procedures. The contact person at our insitution is Marcia Lwry. she can be reached through our operators.
Unfortunately we do not have standard therapies to address microvascular disease. I would recommend a full evaluation to make sure that you are not insulin resistant and control this hyperinsulinemia if it occurs in your case.
Greetings:
I have a correction to my post
about microvascular angina in
regards to my echo cardiograms.
The echo cardiograms showed that
the posterior walls of my heart
did not thicken to the same degree
as the anterior portions when both
were oxygenated with blood.
Also, my stomach and esophagus
were examined by endoscopy and
were found to me normal.
Thanks,
Greg
You may have ischemia in the circumflex distribution of your heart. It appears that your cath was normal. Further testing may be required to delineate this issue of spasm with a more invasive procedure with catheters monitoring your heart during a test to provoke spasm.