Women's Health

Women and Heart Disease

Each year, in the US, more women die of heart disease than of breast cancer and lung cancer combined. More emphasis, for women's health, should be placed on heart disease, primarily early detection for early treatment.

1 in 5 women die of heart disease compared to 1 in 31 who die of breast cancer.
Women often present with heart related symptoms that are different than men, and can often leave clinical visits undiagnosed and in danger of a major adverse cardiac event.
No current test (other than MCG) accurately detects microvascular disease in small blood vessels – a commonly undetected factor in women’s heart disease as this disease can be present even when there is little to no narrowing showing in the main arteries.
MCG detects small vessel coronary disease that is essentially invisible with the present testing methods.

With Small Vessel Disease (Microvascular Disease) there is little to no narrowing in the main arteries so when conventional testing shows no significant artery blockage, they could be missing this life-threatening disease.

Cleveland Clinic (Excerpt below. Click link to the left for full details)

"Coronary microvascular disease affects tiny vessels that deliver blood to heart tissue. When these small blood vessels are damaged, they can spasm, decreasing blood flow to your heart. Microvascular coronary disease causes lasting chest pain and can raise your heart attack risk."

"Diagnosing microvascular heart disease is challenging because microvessels are too small to assess using standard heart tests."

"Small vessel disease is more likely to affect women than men. This is especially true in people with low estrogen levels, which occurs around menopause."

"The primary symptom is a type of chest pain called angina that lasts 10 minutes or longer, even when resting. Pain may increase with mental stress and, less often, with physical exertion. Microvascular coronary disease symptoms can make it challenging to go about daily life."

Women With Repeated Chest Pain

And Clear Test Results

Here are two familiar scenarios of women experiencing chest pains. So often they visit the doctor, undergo several tests, including Treadmill Stress Test and Angiogram, only to find out their heart appears healthy with no blockages and are told by her doctor "it's not your heart, go home you're fine, ."

So, what was the undetected cause of the chest pains? Below are two such stories.

JEAN'S STORY

MARINA'S STORY

Comparing MCG and Coronary Angiography for CAD(>70%) in Women

pdf version