Martha Gulati, MD, director of preventive cardiology in the department of cardiology at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai's Smidt Heart Institute has raised awareness of two heart conditions needing better diagnostic tools — ischemia with no obstructive coronary arteries and myocardial infarction with no obstructive coronary arteries.
Dr. Gulati discussed this issue at the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease, according to a Jan. 29 news release from Cedars-Sinai.
Ischemia with no obstructive coronary arteries is a chronic condition caused by reduced blood flow to the heart. Myocardial infarction with no obstructive coronary arteries is a type of heart attack. Both conditions are more common in women than in men and can contribute to a decline in patient physical, mental and social health, the release said.
Dr. Gulati said proper diagnosis for these conditions can take more than a decade, before which patients may receive the wrong treatment, be hospitalized or experience even worse outcomes.
"We have work to do with these patients," she said, according to the release. "The functional-capacity declines should be a warning sign that they are not living life normally, and those are people you would consider for further testing and more aggressive medical management."