OBJECTIVES We aimed to test the hypothesis that coronary microvascular spasm (MVS) alone causes myocardial ischemia in patients with angina attributable to epicardial coronary spasm, and to determine whether there is a difference in clinical characteristics between those with and without microvascular spasm. BACKGROUND Patients with "vasospastic angina" have epicardial coronary artery spasm, ...

BACKGROUND Hemifacial spasm is usually diagnosed by inspection which mainly identifies involuntary movements of orbicularis oculi. Assessing abnormal muscle responses (AMR) is another diagnostic method. CASE DESCRIPTION We report a case of left hemifacial spasm without detectable involuntary facial movements. The patient was a 48-year-old man with a long history of subjective left facial twit...

Forty-six patients with typical hemifacial spasm had CT. Thirty-eight (83%) were abnormal, including two with surgically documented tumors. Thirty-six had a characteristic dolichoectatic vertebrobasilar artery, with the convexity pointing to the side of the spasm in 92% of the scans. This study suggests that CT is worthwhile procedure in the evaluation of hemifacial spasm and that dolichoectati...

Coronary spasm is an important and often overlooked etiology of chest pain. Although coronary spasm, or Prinzmetal's angina, has been thought of as benign, contemporary studies have shown serious associated adverse outcomes, including acute coronary syndrome, arrhythmia, and death. Definitive diagnosis of coronary spasm can at times be difficult, given the transience of symptoms. Numerous agent...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is the standard of reference for detecting cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). CT angiography (CTA) is a relatively recent method for depicting the intracranial arterial vasculature. The purpose of this study was to compare CTA and DSA in the detection and quantification of cerebral vasospasm. METHODS Seventeen p...

BACKGROUND Coronary spasm plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease and it may be associated with low-grade inflammation. METHODS AND RESULTS Intracoronary injection of acetylcholine was done in 199 patients (99 men, 100 women, mean age, 64.5+/-11.0 years) with chest pain and normal coronary angiograms. According to the results of the provocation test, the study su...

Coronary artery spasm is not an uncommon event, but its pathophysiologic mechanisms followed by coronary artery vasospasm are not yet completely clarified. Coronary artery spasm can lead to sudden cardiac death due to ventricular arrhythmias or heart block. In the cases of cardiogenic shock secondly to severe coronary artery spasm, IABP is sufficient to support the patient’s hemodynamics, in th...

We report for the first time two cases of vein graft spasm following distal artery bypass in the lower extremity. In the first case, graft spasm occurred in the region just distal to the proximal anastomosis and it resolved without surgical intervention. In the second case, completion angiography showed defective filling around the distal anastomosis. We considered this to be due to technical e...

The total incidence of coronary artery spasm during coronary angiography has been reported to be between 0.26% and 0.93%. The rarity of this phenomenon has been invoked to minimize its clinical significance. Review of a one-year experience in our catheterization laboratory showed that coronary spasm occurred in eight of 274 coronary angiograms (2.93%). In three instances, spasm could not be asc...

Background –Coronary spasm plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease. However, similarities and differences between coronary spasm and atherosclerosis are not known. We examined the angiographic characteristics of coronary spasm in comparison with those of atherosclerosis. Methods and Results –Thirty two left anterior descending (LAD), 11 left circumflex (LCx) and 23...