Overview of the Non-Invasive Examinations in Patients with Coronary Spastic Angina

Exercise test, hyperventilation test or cold pressor test was employed to reproduce ST elevation in patients with variant angina. However, cardiologists could not get the high positive frequency from these tests in patients without high disease activity. Now a days, cardiologists can easily perform coronary angiography or coronary computed tomography. Cardiologists skipped the non-invasive spasm provocation tests such as hyperventilation test or cold pressor test to diagnose patients with coronary artery spasm. Approximately a half patient with coronary spasm had pathologic responses of exercise tests. More than a third patient with coronary spasm and without fixed stenosis had ischemic findings on exercise tests, whereas more than two-third patients with coronary spasm and with organic stenosis had pathologic responses on exercise testing. We should reconsider the usefulness of exercise tests to obtain the ischemic findings due to coronary artery spasm in the clinic before performing the cardiac catheterization.