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Chest pain - when it’s probably not
traditional atheroma
@Lwnurses #LWN #LearnWithNurses
Michaela Nuttall RGN MSc
Founder, Learn With Nurses
Director, Smart Health Solutions
Associate in Nursing, C3 Collaborating for Health
Chair, Health Care Committee HEART UK
Member, Nurses Working Party and Guidelines & Information
Trustee, PoTS UKritish and Irish Hypertension Society
@ thisismichaela431 peeps.. So far BHF 2020
In the UK more than 100,000 hospital
admissions each year are due to heart
attacks; that's 280 admissions each
day or 1 every 5 minutes.
More than 200,000 UK hospital visits
each year are due to heart attacks.
In the 1960s more than 7 out of 10
heart attacks in the UK were fatal.
Today at least 7 out of 10 people
survive. Chest pain….
Chest pain refers to pain in the thorax. It can be classified by cause (cardiac or non-
cardiac).
• Cardiac causes of chest pain include:
• Acute coronary syndrome (unstable angina and myocardial infarction).
• Stable angina.
• Other cardiac causes, such as dissecting thoracic aneurysm, pericarditis, cardiac
tamponade, myocarditis, acute congestive cardiac failure, or arrhythmias.
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg95 Non cardiac causes
Respiratory causes of chest pain include:
• Pulmonary embolus, pneumothorax or tension pneumothorax, community-acquired
pneumonia, asthma, or pleural effusion.
Other causes of chest pain include:
• Gastroenterological causes, such as acute pancreatitis, oesophageal rupture, peptic ulcer
disease, gastro-oesophageal reflux, oesophageal spasm, or oesophagitis.
• Musculoskeletal causes, such as rib fracture, costochondritis, spinal disorders (disc prolapse,
cervical spondylosis, facet joint dysfunction), rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, or
osteoporotic fracture.
• Cancer (for example, lung cancer); herpes zoster; Bornholm disease; precordial catch (Texidor
twinge); or psychogenic or non-specific chest pain
• Postural Tachycardia SyndromeNICE Chest Pain Overview 2020NICE Chest Pain Overview 2020 What percentage of people involved in research
about CVD are women?
38.2%
41.1%
42.7%
45.8%
49.9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% What percentage of people involved in research
about CVD are women?
38.2%
41.1%
42.7%
45.8%
49.9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% The average delay between the onset of symptoms and arrival at
hospital for men ranges between 1 hour 24 minutes and 3 hours 30 -
what is it for women?
1 hour 31 minutes and 5 hours 30 minutes
1 hour 48 minutes and 7 hours 12 minutes
3 hour 48 minutes and 4 hours 12 minutes
7 hour 48 minutes and 12 hours 12 minutes
1 hour 31 minutes and 12 hours 12 minutes
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% The average delay between the onset of symptoms and arrival at
hospital for men ranges between 1 hour 24 minutes and 3 hours 30 -
what is it for women?
1 hour 31 minutes and 5 hours 30 minutes
1 hour 48 minutes and 7 hours 12 minutes
3 hour 48 minutes and 4 hours 12 minutes
7 hour 48 minutes and 12 hours 12 minutes
1 hour 31 minutes and 12 hours 12 minutes
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% What percentage of women get an initial diagnosis
which is wrong when having a heart attack?
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% What percentage of women get an initial diagnosis
which is wrong when having a heart attack?
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Why?
• Not enough known
• Clinicians' perspective
• Angiograms not as effective in diagnosis heart disease in women
• It might not be ‘traditional’ atheroma (next session)
They told me I was just having
• Lack of inclusion in research a pto the hospital with noaken
urgency.
• InequalitiesBut when it’s not ‘traditional’ atheroma
PoTSSCAD (Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection)
most commonly affects?SCAD (Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection)
most commonly affects? SCAD
• SCAD most commonly occurs between
adolescence and late 60s
• Many people with SCAD will have few or no
traditional risk factors for heart and circulatory
disease
• 90% of those with SCAD are women
• It can often occur during, or soon after,
pregnancy
• It’s thought that estrogen and progesterone
weaken blood vessel walls, making more
vulnerable to tearing - SCADhttps://www.saintlukeskc.org/condition/spontaneous-coronary-artery-dissection-scad Symptoms
SCAD patients experience different symptoms; the most common are:
• Central chest pain
• Pain or numbness in one or both arms
• Jaw pain
• Back pain
• Shoulder pain
• Nausea
• Sweating/clamminess
• Difficulty breathing Diagnosis and treatment
• ECG (electrocardiogram) Surgical intervention:
– although ECGs can • stents, or coronary artery bypass surgery
look normal in some
SCAD patients
Medical management:
• Blood tests to assess Aspirin, statins? blood pressure pills and beta blockers
Troponin levels
• Angiogram Cardiac rehab
• CT scan What might increase risk of SCAD?
• Abnormalities of the blood So:
vessels such as fibromuscular • Number 1 cause of heart attacks
dysplasia (FMD)
in women under 50 years of age
• Inherited connective tissue • Number 1 cause of pregnancy-
diseases such as Ehlers-Danlos related heart attacks
syndrome or Marfan’s syndrome • Most individuals with SCAD are
• Severe high blood pressure
young, healthy, and active with
• Extreme physical exercise no family history of heart disease
• Severe emotional stress Ischaemia with Non-Obstructed Coronary Arteries
INOCA
• These are conditions where the blood supply to
the heart is restricted even when there are no
blockages in the coronary arteries.
• Patients with INOCA can present at emergency
care with symptoms of a heart attack yet are
often told there is nothing wrong with their heart,
partly because INOCA conditions often do not
show up on usual tests, like ECG’s and routine
angiograms.
• Patients with INOCA can spend many years being
sent home from emergency departments without
diagnosis, without treatment and without help. Vasospastic angina (Variant/Prinzmetal’s)
People experiencing vasospastic angina do not
typically have episodes of angina during
exercise.
• usually occurs while at rest and in the early
morning or late at night
• is often severe, but can be variable and can
also be mild (a sense of unease)
• can occur in other locations in the body; the
back, shoulders, neck, stomach and arms
• can be eased through taking medication
• some people can also experience nausea. Triggers
• emotional stress
• exposure to extremely cold weather or a sudden drop in temperature
• hyperventilation
• allergic reactions (usually severe reactions that result in histamine release, sometimes referred to as Kounis
Syndrome)
• inflammation of the coronary artery wall
• smoking
• some antidepressants
• some anti-migraine drugs
• use of the drug cocaine
• high consumption of alcohol
More common in women
Especially around the time of menopause Treatment
• Nitrates: These can be given • Lifestyle
in sublingual tablets, oral
tablets or capsules or • Management of other risk
factors
patches.
• Calcium channel blockers:
These include diltiazem,
amlodipine, nifedipine and
verapamil. Microvascular Angina (syndrome X)
• May be more severe and last
longer than other types of angina
pain
• May occur with shortness of
breath, sleep problems, fatigue,
and lack of energy
• Often is first noticed during
routine daily activities and times
of mental stress
Only 5% or coronary arteries are visible on angiogramInternational Heart Spasms Alliance Diagnosis & treatment
• Calcium channel blockers.
• Not always diagnosed • Beta blockers.
• Nitrates like nitroglycerin.
• Lack of awareness
• nicorandil, ivabradine and ranolazine
• MRI
• Low dose imipramine
• Stress echocardiography
• Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), especially if
• Acetylcholine provocation their chest pain is associated with hot flush.s
during angiography
Support, CBT, HypnotherapyPoTSPoTS Symptom Profile
3 Commonest symptoms
Lightheadednes
Fatigue
Fast palpitations
Altered circulationn
Syn copee*
Visuall greying
Brain fog *
Orthostatic headaches
Acrocyanosisheadaches
Exe rcise intolerance
Chest painr pain
Raised noradrenaline
Sweating
Tremulousness
Nausea, vomiting
Diarrhoea, abdo pain
Sense of anxiety
Poor sleep
*Symptoms occur mostly when upright* Summary
• Chest pain isn’t always traditional cardiac
• Think of what else it might be
• The inequalities are vast
• It is acknowledged there is a lack of research in
women
• There is a movement for change, it’s going to take a
while