Variant angina; comparison of patients with and without fixed severe coronary artery disease

The syndrome of variant angina occurs in patients with a wide spectrum of coronary artery obstructions, ranging from normal coronary arteries to severe 3-vessel coronary artery disease [CAD]. Treatment of these patients is, in large part, determined by the extent and severity of the underlying fixed coronary obstructions. To determine the clinical features of variant angina with and without fixed severe coronary artery disease. Nishtar Hospital, Multan. Two years. Descriptive, comparative analytical study. Sample size 108 patients. Sampling technique: Convenient probability sampling done. 43 patients with variant angina who had less than 50% fixed coronary luminal diameter narrowing [group-I] were compared with 65 patients with variant angina who had 70% or greater diameter narrowing [group-II]. Statistically significant differences were found in 3 clinical features between group-I and group-II i.e. [1] a more than 3 months history of angina at rest before diagnosis [80% vs 23%, P <0.001]; [2] an abnormal electrocardiogram at rest [19 vs 48%, P <0.01]. [3] an abnormal stress test [26% [8 of 30] vs 84% [15 of 18], P <0.01. However, these features were not clinically reliable in separating patients with variant angina with and without fixed severe obstructions because of overlap between the two groups. No difference was found between the 2 groups in age, sex, predominant symptoms at the time of catheterization, history of exertional angina, syncope with angina, prolonged angina, previous artery disease. Coronary arteriography should be performed to define the underlying coronary anatomy and to determine optimal therapy in patients with variant angina