PMCID: PMC1808079
Chest pain may be associated with coronary arteries that appear "normal". Normal is defined here as no visible disease or luminal irregularities (less than 50%) as judged visually at coronary angiography.
Normal angiography in patients with chest pain is five times more common in women than in men [1]. Among patients with chest pain and normal angiography, an unknown number are suffering from cardiac pain of
ischemic origin. Uncertainty is often
difficult to allay, for medical attendants
as well as for patients, resulting in
perpetuation of symptoms, difficulties
in management, and establishment of risk of subsequent coronary events [2]. In this article, we discuss how to stratify risk in patients with chest pain and a normal coronary angiogram.
The authors received no specific funding
for this article.
Peer reviewed