RESUMO
Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between nitrate-induced headache [NIH] and the complexity of coronary artery lesions in patients with stable coronary artery disease [CAD]
Subjects and Methods: Two hundred and seventy-five patients with anginal chest pain who underwent coronary angiography were enrolled in the present study. NIH was defined as the presence of headache due to nitrate treatment [isosorbide mononitrate 40 mg] after excluding confounding factors. Coronary artery lesion complexity was assessed by the SYNTAX score [SXscore] using a dedicated computer software system
Results: The mean SXscore was lower in the patients with NIH than in patients without NIH [7.3 +/- 5.2 vs. 14.4 +/- 8.5, respectively; p < 0.001]. Additionally, patients with NIH had a lower rate of multivessel disease compared with those without NIH [the mean number of diseased vessels was 1.5 +/- 0.7 and 2.0 +/- 07, respectively; p < 0.001]. In multivariate analysis, increasing age [p = 0.02] and headache [p = 0.001] were found to be independent determinants of Sxscore
Conclusion: The present study demonstrated an independent inverse association between NIH and SXscore. The NIH could provide important predictive information about coronary artery lesion complexity in patients with stable CAD