title: [Neurovegetative changes before and during episodes of silent ischemia in variant angina].
abstract: In order to evaluate whether variations in autonomic nervous tone have a significant role in the induction of coronary arterial spasm in variant angina, we analyzed the changes in heart rate variability (HRV) related to spontaneous episodes of ST-segment elevation, recorded during 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring, in 13 patients with variant angina (9 men and 4 women, aged 63 +/- 12 years). In order to obtain an accurate analysis of HRV changes, we only included ischemic episodes characterized by silent ST-segment elevation, lasting at least 3 min and without any ST change in the previous 30 min. HRV indexes in the time domain (RR interval, standard deviation of RR intervals [SD], pNN50, r-MSSD) and in the frequency domain (LF = 0.04-0.15 Hz, HF = 0.15-0.40 HZ, LF/HF ratio) were calculated on 2 min intervals, centered at 15 min before (15B), 5 min before ed 1 min before (1B) the appearance of ST elevation, as well as at peak of ST-segment elevation. Of 161 ischemic episodes found on 24-hour Holter recordings, 60 (37%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria for analysis (4.6 +/- 3.5 episodes/patient, range 1-12). The duration of the selected episodes was 6 +/- 2.5 min and ST elevation was 2.2 +/- 1.0 mm. Heart rate (HR) did not have any change before ST elevation, whereas it showed a small, but significant increase at peak ST (73 +/- 12 versus 67 +/- 11 b/min at 15B, p < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cardiologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bia
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Lanza
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manzoli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stazi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colonna
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pedrotti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lucente
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maseri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000788:Angina Pectoris, Variant / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology*
vernacular_title: Modificazioni neurovegetative prima e durante episodi di ischemia silente nell'angina variante.