The sensitive heart: a syndrome of abnormal cardiac pain perception
Article Abstract:
Patients who have chest pain without evidence of coronary artery abnormalities may have an increased sensitivity to heart and other pain. The case of a 50-year-old woman with a 12-year history of chest pain is discussed. Changes indicating possible ischemia, or a decrease in blood flow to her heart, were seen on an ECG performed during exercise testing. However, standard drug therapy for the condition failed to improve her pain. Her blood pressure and heart rate were within normal limits as were the results of a cardiovascular exam. Chest pain became more intense during stimulation of the right heart ventricle with a pacing wire to a speed of four beats per minute faster than her resting heart rate. The woman began taking 50 milligrams of imipramine nightly which appeared to relieve her symptoms. When she stopped taking the medication, the pain returned. The identification of a group of patients with similar symptoms tested during the National Institutes of Health Chest Pain Study indicates that these patients may represent a segment of the population that is more sensitive to visceral pain.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1995
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Athlete's heart in women: echocardiographic characterization of highly trained elite female athletes
Article Abstract:
Female athletes may have enlarged hearts but their hearts seldom exceed normal limits as sometimes occurs in male athletes. Researchers used echocardiography to measure the size of the heart and the thickness of its walls in 600 female athletes. The athletes had larger hearts and thicker walls than a group of 65 sedentary women. In 8% of the athletes, heart size exceeded normal limits and 1% had hearts large enough to qualify as dilated cardiomyopathy. However, wall thickness did not exceed normal limits in any athlete.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1996
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