Catheter-induced coronary artery spasm: an angiographic manifestation of vasospastic angina?

During a 4-year period, 33 patients with angiographic coronary artery spasm in the absence of significant fixed occlusive disease were reviewed. Sixteen patients had typical variant angina and 17 had catheter-induced spasm. All patients had one or more episodes of rest angina. Left ventriculography demonstrated mitral valve prolapse in 14 patients (42%) and end-systolic cavity obliteration in six (18%). Spasm was demonstrated to occur in the right coronary artery in 26 patients and in the left coronary artery in seven. Two patients had multivessel spasm. Comparing patients with variant angina and catheter-induced spasm demonstrated no significant difference in clinical, ECG, or angiographic parameters. Two patients with catheter-induced spasm had healed myocardial infarctions and both developed spontaneous non catheter-induced spasm in the infarct vessel. The majority of patients responded to long-acting nitrate therapy, though those with catheter-induced spasm tended to have more recurrent chest pain. Six patients were placed on calcium antagonist drugs with marked symptomatic improvement in five. This study suggests that patients with catheter-induced spasm are similar to those with variant angina and its angiographic documentation may be a marker for the identification of patients with vasospastic angina.