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...

Abstract Background/Introduction One of the most common complications encountered during transradial procedures is radial artery (RA) spasm, whereas its management remains a challenge. Purpose We hypothesized that in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization via RA, use transdermal nitroglycerin (NTG) patches applied to skin over RA puncture site may prevent occurrence spasm. Methods NURSE-TT...

BACKGROUND The aim was to elucidate clinical trial efficacy, safety, and dosing practices of abobotulinumtoxinA (ABO) treatment in adult patients with blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm. To date, most literature reviews for blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm have examined the effectiveness of all botulinum neurotoxin type A products as a class. However, differences in dosing units and recommend...

Native coronary artery spasm after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is scarce. It frequently causes disastrous circulatory collapse. We report a 72-yr-old male, who experienced native coronary artery spasm and grafted artery spasm following CABG, which was successfully treated with coronary angiography and intracoronary injection of nitroglycerine.