Pathobiology and evolving therapies of coronary artery vasospasm

Abstract

Coronary artery vasospasm is a known cause of chest pain and requires a high level of clinical suspicion for diagnosis. It also remains in the differential diagnosis for patients presenting with type 2 myocardial infarction. There are few randomized controlled trials for guideline-based prevention and treatment for coronary artery vasospasm. In this article, we review updated concepts in coronary artery vasospasm. Specifically, our aim is to provide current evidence of pathophysiology, identify the risk factors, propose a diagnostic algorithm, review available evidence of evolving therapies, and identify patients who would benefit from automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

Keywords:

• Automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillators
• calcium channel blocker
• coronary artery vasospasm
• nitrates
• nitroglycerin
• Prinzmetal angina
• type 2 myocardial infarction

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors acknowledge the editorial contributions of Angela D. Rutherford.