I thank you, for answering me, I just wanted to know if the likelyhood of a heartattack is less possible, since I am a non smoker now for 25 years, no family history of heart problems and ALL cardiac tests have come back negative??????
If the cath is normal the possibility that you chest pain is related to epicardial coronary artery occlusive disease is essentially eliminated. I say it that way because coronary vasospasm and microvascular disease cannot be ruled out by catheterization alone. At the same time, those are not that severe and are typically treated medically. As far as a heart attack is concerned, unfortunately, nothing rules out the possibility of having one. The fundamental difference between chest pain related to obstructive disease and a massive MI, is that massive MI usually are not preceded by chest pain episodes. The massive heart attacks occur in pt who have very little coronary artery disease. They take place because of increased inflammation in the vessel that leads to plaque rupture, clot formation and vessel obstruction. The only way to prevent this is with medications, not a catheterization. Things that are highly predictive of this are for example: family history of heart attacks, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol and high stress level. Finally, on a good note, I don;t think that you chest pain is related to the heart at all based on how you describe it. The fact that you had a normal stress test pretty much rules out severe coronary artery disease, again, it does not rule out that you won't have a heart attack in the future. Nothing does. I would not have the catheterization if I were you. I wouldn't even have the stress test because your pain does not sounds cardiac in nature at all.