title: Different long-term course between chest pain and exercise-induced ST depression in syndrome X.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to assess the long-term clinical course of patients with syndrome X, focusing on different courses between exercise-induced ST depression and chest pain. Forty-three patients with syndrome X were followed up for 6.4 +/- 3.8 years. They were divided into the 3 groups according to chest pain: disappeared (n = 24), improved (n = 14), or unchanged (n = 5). No patients had cardiac events and all had a favorable long-term prognosis. In patients showing disappearance of chest pain, exercise-induced ST depression and rate-pressure product (RPP) at peak exercise did not change during follow-up. However, ST depression and RPP decreased significantly in those with improved chest pain. These observations suggest that abnormal pain perception plays an important role in the development of chest pain.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Kurume University Medical Center, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shintani
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishiyama
authors.forename: Kiichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006327:Heart Block / Q000209:etiology; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017566:Microvascular Angina / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis