title: Long-term prognosis of patients with cardiac syndrome X.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous follow-up studies of patients with cardiac syndrome X (CSX) reported good prognosis. However, some recent reports challenged this finding by showing appreciable mortality rates in patients with angina and normal coronary arteries admitted for acute coronary syndromes.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed clinical follow-up of 155 patients (mean age 58.9+/-10 years, 40 men) with typical CSX. The occurrence of major cardiac events (cardiac death, acute myocardial infarction), readmission for chest pain, revascularization procedures, angina status, and non cardiac events during follow-up were collected for each patient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At a mean follow-up time of 137+/-78 months (range 24-372) from the onset of symptoms, 4 patients died, 3 for cancers and 1 for acute pancreatitis. No patient died from cardiovascular causes or had any major cardiovascular event. Hospital readmission for recurrent chest pain was reported by 89 patients (58%), and 33 (22%) underwent at least one more coronary angiography. During follow-up, chest pain had remained unchanged in 33% of patients and had worsened in 14% of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data show that patients with CSX have excellent long-term clinical prognosis. A significant number of patients, however, shows persistence or worsening of symptoms, as well as further recurrence to medical evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cardiologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Priscilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lamendola
authors.forename: Gaetano A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Lanza
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spinelli
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Sgueglia
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Monaco
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sestito
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Crea
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000401:mortality*; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000401:mortality*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017566:Microvascular Angina / Q000401:mortality*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D013997:Time Factors