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Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

  • Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes (AS Jaffe, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is an important etiology of nonatherosclerotic acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. Innovations in the catheterization laboratory including optical coherence tomography and intravascular ultrasound have enhanced the ability to visualize intimal disruption and intramural hematoma associated with SCAD. Formerly considered “rare,” these technological advances and heightened awareness suggest that SCAD is more prevalent than prior estimates. SCAD is associated with female sex, young age, extreme emotional stress, or extreme exertion, pregnancy, and fibromuscular dysplasia. The clinical characteristics and management strategies of SCAD patients are different than for atherosclerotic heart disease and deserve specific consideration. This review will highlight recent discoveries about SCAD as well as describe current efforts to elucidate remaining gaps in knowledge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, 200 1st Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Marysia S. Tweet, Rajiv Gulati & Sharonne N. Hayes

Authors
  1. Marysia S. Tweet
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  2. Rajiv Gulati
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  3. Sharonne N. Hayes
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Correspondence to Marysia S. Tweet.

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Conflict of Interest

Marysia S. Tweet, Rajiv Gulati, and Sharonne N. Hayes declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

For the studies reported herein, formal consent is not required, but all work reported by the authors was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and approved by the Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes

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Tweet, M.S., Gulati, R. & Hayes, S.N. Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection. Curr Cardiol Rep 18, 60 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-016-0737-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-016-0737-6

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