Vasospastic Angina Associated With Menses

In 1959, Prinzmetal described variant angina.1Since then, it has become a well-recognized clinical condition believed to be due to spasm of the coronary arteries and usually referred to asvasospastic angina. Herein I describe a woman with vasospastic angina whose attacks occur only in temporal relationship to her menses. Report of a Case. A 38-year-old white woman had been experiencing chest pains for about 5 years. Despite a rather extensive evaluation, no definitive diagnosis was made. Because of the severity of the pain, she summoned an ambulance to her home on several occasions. Her only risk factor for coronary artery disease was a history of cigarette smoking. On March 13, 1989, she experienced severe chest pain, and her husband transported her to the hospital in his car. En route, she lost consciousness and had a seizure. On admission to the emergency department several minutes later, she was in ventricular