Women without clogged arteries may still be at risk for heart attack
Heart patients can approach their conditions with different pharmaceutical strategies; while individuals who buy Plavix can help prevent abnormal clots, those who buy Lipitor can control cholesterol levels.
Heart patients can approach their conditions with different pharmaceutical strategies; while individuals who buy Plavix can help prevent abnormal clots, those who buy Lipitor can control cholesterol levels. However, some women who need these medications may be misdiagnosed and never receive the life-saving care they require, new research says.
A heart attack usually occurs when the arteries that feed the heart muscle become blocked or obstructed. Doctors can visualize whether an artery is clogged or open through the use of angiography, which uses x-rays and dyes to create pictures of the blood vessels. Researchers at New York University, Langone, conducted a study that assessed the arteries of 50 women who had heart attacks. In 38 percent of cases, standard angiograms showed their arteries were not blocked at all, but further diagnoses using two new imaging techniques revealed another cause. Intravascular ultraound and cardiac magnetic resonance can create different pictures of the coronary arteries, and for these women, imaging revealed that they suffered heart attacks caused by ruptured cholesterol plaques that had blood clots.
"Women who have had a heart attack and have normal or near-normal angiogram results may be told they didn't have a heart attack at all because of the angiogram result," said study author Harmony Reynolds, MD. The more accurate imaging techniques can help ensure doctors prescribe these women the medications they need to control heart disease.
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