title: Cardiac syndrome X.
abstract: This article describes: 1) situations that can cause angina pectoris in the absence of formal atherosclerotic obstructive lesions: a) those that cause non-atherosclerotic coronary obstructions and b) those with normal coronary angiography, among them cardiac syndrome X (CSX); 2) the various definitions of CSX, particularly the definition of true CSX by Bertrand et al.: effort anginal pain plus positive exercise test, plus a second demonstration of myocardial ischemia (e.g. abnormal myocardial scintigraphy), plus normal coronary angiography; 3) the different pathogenic mechanisms that have been proposed for CSX, which suggest that the problem is mainly at the microvascular level; 4) the excellent survival prognosis of CSX; 5) the lack of any standard therapeutic protocol.
authors.forename: J T S
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Soares-Costa
authors.forename: J J B
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Soares Costa Teresa
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D017566:Microvascular Angina / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology