[Coronary artery spasm. Apropos of 165 cases]

This study comprised 165 cases of coronary artery spasm (147 men and 18 women) with an average age of 49,2 years (range 27 to 73 years). Smoking was a particularly significant risk factor. Symptoms were usually of recent onset (80%) and dominated by attacks of angina pectoris either at rest alone or associated with angina of effort. 14% of cases of spasm were observed during acute myocardial infarction. Some cases presented with syncope due to cardiac arrhytmias. The basal electrocardiogramme was normal in 53% of cases. Exercise stress testing may be normal (30/65 cases) or positive (ST depression recorded in 26/65 cases). In 5 cases, ST elevation was observed. Left ventricular function was usually normal: 115 patients (70%) had organic atherosclerotic lesions, with 1, 2 and 3 vessel disease in 40%, 18% and 22% respectively. Spasm was spontaneous in 24,2% of cases but most commonly provoked by ergometrine. Criteria of spasm only applied to focal spasm and exclused catheter--induced spasm. The most common site of spasm was the right coronary artery (50,3% of cases), followed by the left anterior descending (31% of cases) and left circumflex (10,3% of cases). The outcome of these 165 cases depended on the therapeutic options (surgical treatment in 48 cases). The medium term results were generally good with a low mortality rate and follow up showed that the calcium antagonists provided effective prophylaxis against recurrence of spasm.