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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
vasculitis of coronary arteries
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vasculitis of coronary arteries
by christine m. smith, Dec 17, 1999 12:00AM
I am hoping you will give me an opinion on this. I have had a lot of symptoms over the years that now suggest that I could possibly have Behcet's disease. I have an appointment with the rheumatologist I saw for similar problems (about 10 years) in February. I am a 49 year old premenopausal (as far as I know, tested last January) female, with a not so great lipid picture(TC 216 after much effort, LDL 145, HDL 26, Trig 225). My weight is normal, don't smoke, take 25mg atenolol daily for mild hypertension. Lately I have noticed what I believe could be angina symptoms and this has me concerned. When I walk uphill I get chest discomfort that goes into my neck and sometimes my left shoulder. If I slow down or walk on even ground it goes away. It never happens any other time (such as under stressful situations)and always happens when I walk uphill (although sometimes worse than other times) I joined a fitness program about a year ago (had to stop because I developed sacroiliac problems but I do walk 2 miles 4-5 times per week)where I had what was called a submaximal multilevel treadmill stress test. These angina symptoms did not happen during this test, which was declared normal. My question is that
I have read that vasculitis of the coronary arteries can cause symptoms similar to angina symptoms. Since Behcet's disease is a vasculitis type disease, often with episodes coming and going intermittently, I am wondering if that could possibly be causing my symptoms that resemble angina. If so, does this still mean that the coronary arteries are not getting enough oxygen, or would angina symptoms from vasculitis not mean the same as angina symptoms from CAD? Thank you for your opinion. As I said, I have an appt with the rheumatologist and plan to discuss this with him.
Chris S.
I have read that vasculitis of the coronary arteries can cause symptoms similar to angina symptoms. Since Behcet's disease is a vasculitis type disease, often with episodes coming and going intermittently, I am wondering if that could possibly be causing my symptoms that resemble angina. If so, does this still mean that the coronary arteries are not getting enough oxygen, or would angina symptoms from vasculitis not mean the same as angina symptoms from CAD? Thank you for your opinion. As I said, I have an appt with the rheumatologist and plan to discuss this with him.
Chris S.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD - DLB, Dec 17, 1999 12:00AM
Behcet's can cause a vasculitis of the large arteries of the body. This would not be expected to result in a coronary artery vasculitis, though there have been some rare reports of Behcet's causing heart attacks. Much more likely, your symptoms are due to coronary artery disease (and the submaximal stress test missed it) or are non-cardiac in origin.
