Back in November I had a stent fitted as had angina attack out the blue and my RV was almost completely blocked. Since then I’ve still suffered with angina attacks. My consultant has put me on nicorandil which after fighting the side effects practically cured my angina. I’ve just today had a cardiac stress MRI and when the stress drug was administered I had intense pain in my left shoulder and arm, nausea and severe breathlessness. To say I was scared was an understatement as I was still in the scanner. Does this mean I still have an issue with my heart? Could it be micro vascular disease?
Got to wait at least 6 weeks for results.
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Scads
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I don't think it necessarily means trouble. I think the drug is meant to stress your body so they can see how your blood flows and how long it takes for you to recover. I had similar pain when I had mine and the conclusion of the test for me was no issues and I've had no angina at all and take no medication for angina, but i do still carry the spray with me at all times. This was 2 years ago.
It is a normal response to have pain in the chest, back, arms and abdomen, which was the case for me when having a CMR with perfusion earlier on in the year. This should’ve been explained to you beforehand that you might feel pain during the test.
It does not necessarily mean that because you felt pain, there is anything wrong with your heart. I was told that the test was done to check for the presence of ischaemia which is the narrowing of the arteries whilst under stress or exercise.
CMR/MRI with perfusion can also help in the diagnosis of microvascular angina. If your cardiologist suspects that you might have this, then hopefully the test will make that clearer.
Until you receive your results, I wouldn’t worry. It’s one of the very good tests out there to have so please be reassured that if something is wrong, it’s likely to pick it up.
I’m kind of hoping they do find something as long as it’s treatable as I feel I’ve been going mad these last few months. Thank you for your reassurance
I have had 3 cardiac perfusion MRIs and each time I felt as though an elephant was sitting on my chest, I couldn't breathe in and lots of pain in my upper chest and back.
I agree it's very scary. I had to mentally prepare myself each time I've had a cardiac MRI.
You can also have myocardial ischaemia, a lack of blood supply and oxygen to the heart, without blocked coronary arteries due to microvascular dysfunction or coronary vasospasms.
Microvascular dysfunction is the more common cause of microvascular angina.
It is thought to be due to the small blood vessels of the heart not being able to dilate or stay dilated in response to extra demands like exercise.
The chemical they use adenosine speeds your heart up and mimics exercise.
If you do have an issue with your small blood vessels this may show up as ischaemia.
During your MRI they take a reading of your ECG throughout. If there were any significant problems you wouldn't have been sent home.
I don't have blocked coronary arteries, however I do have coronary vasospasms which causes my vasospastic angina.
I tend to get my chest pain at rest following exercise. Which happened after my last Cardiac MRI, the increase in my heart rate triggered my coronary vasospasms.
I ended up in A&E as result as I had significant ECG changes.
When waiting for results, I remember if there was a major problem, my Cardiologist would be making contact with me promptly.
No news is good news.
The BHF has this information about microvascular angina.
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