Chest pain after coronary interventional procedures

Chest pain following successful percutaneous coronary interventions is a common problem. Although the development of chest pain after coronary interventions may be of benign character, it is disturbing to patients, relatives and hospital staff. Such pain may be indicative of acute coronary artery closure, coronary artery spasm or myocardial infarction, but may also simply reflect local coronary artery trauma. The distinction between these causes of chest pain is crucial in selecting optimal care. Management of these patients may involve repeat coronary angiography and additional intervention. Commonly, repeat coronary angiography following percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in patients with chest pain demonstrates widely patent lesion sites suggesting that the pain was due to coronary artery spasm, coronary arterial wall stretching or was of non-cardiac origin. As reported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute PTCA Registry, 4.6% of patients after angioplasty have coronary occlusions, 4.8% suffer a myocardial infarction, and 4.2% have coronary spasm. The frequency of chest pain after new device coronary interventions (atherectomy and stenting) seems to be even higher. However, only the minority of patients with post-procedural chest pain have indeed an ischemic event. Therefore, the vast majority of patients have recurrent chest pain without any signs of ischemia. There is some evidence that non-ischemic chest pain after coronary interventions is more common after stent implantation as compared to PTCA (41% vs. 12%). This may be due to the continuous stretching of the arterial wall by the stent as the elastic recoil occurring after PTCA is minimized. In conclusion, chest pain after coronary interventional procedures may potentially be hazardous when due to myocardial ischemia. However, especially after coronary stent placement, cardiologists must consider "stretch pain" due to the overdilation and stretching of the artery caused by the stent in the differential diagnosis. Clinically, it is, therefore, important to recognize that in addition to ischemia-related chest pain other types of chest pain do exist with cardiac origin.     

Chest pain after coronary artery stent implantation

A sizeable proportion of patients who undergo successful coronary artery stent implantation experiences chest pain immediately after the procedure and/or in the following months in the absence of in-stent restenosis. We investigated this phenomenon in 57 consecutive patients with stable angina who underwent successful stent implantation. Chest pain characteristics were assessed before stent implantation and during 6-month follow-up. All patients underwent coronary angiography within 6 months of the procedure 48 hours after exercise thallium-201 perfusion scintigraphy. Patients who did not exhibit in-stent restenosis underwent an ergonovine test at the end of routine coronary angiography. During follow-up, 15 patients complained of chest pain. Six of these patients exhibited scintigraphic evidence of myocardial ischemia and in-stent restenosis at angiography. In the remaining 9 patients, chest pain occurred in the absence of in-stent restenosis at angiography. In 8 of these patients intracoronary ergonovine administration reproduced their habitual pain, whereas it did not cause any pain in the 42 patients who were completely asymptomatic at follow-up and without in-stent restenosis. Ergonovine caused more intense vasoconstriction and nitroglycerin caused more intense vasodilation of the reference coronary diameter in patients with than in patients without ergonovine-induced pain (-17 +/- 3 vs -9 +/- 3%, p <0.001; 9 +/- 6 vs 5 +/- 4%, p <0.02, respectively). In conclusion, chest pain with features similar to habitual angina occurs in the absence of in-stent restenosis in 1/5 of patients after stent implantation and appears to be associated with more intense coronary vasoreactivity.     

冠状动脉支架术后的胸部不适与再狭窄

目的 :了解冠状动脉支架术后胸部不适与再狭窄关系。方法 :选择接受冠状动脉支架术并在 6个月内进行了冠状动脉造影检查的 186例患者 ,对术后胸部不适和无胸部不适患者进行冠心病易患因素和术后再狭窄比较。结果 :胸部不适和无胸部不适者术后支架内再狭窄的百分率分别为 2 1.4 %和 15 .2 % ,两组的再狭窄率差异无显著性意义。结论 :冠状动脉支架术后的胸部不适除与再狭窄有关外 ,可能与血管内皮功能紊乱及血管的反应性有关。     

Pain recollection after chest pain of cardiac origin

Memory for pain is an important research and clinical issue since patients ability to accurately recall pain plays a prominent role in medical practice. The purpose of this prospective study was to find out if patients, with an episode of chest pain due to suspected acute myocardial infarction could accurately retrieve the pain initially experienced at home and during the first day of hospitalization after 6 months. A total of 177 patients were included in this analysis. The patients rated their experience of pain on a numerical rating scale. The maximal pain at home was retrospectively assessed, thereafter pain assessments were made at several points of time after admission. After 6 months they were asked to recall the intensity of pain and once again rate it on the numerical rating scale. The results from the initial and 6-month registrations were compared. In general, patients rated their maximal intensity of chest pain as being higher at the 6-month recollection as compared with the assessments made during the initial hospitalization. In particular, in patients with a high level of emotional distress, there was a systematic overestimation of the pain intensity at recall.     

Significance of early chest pain after coronary angioplasty

In summary, coronary angioplasty has proved to be an alternative to bypass surgery in relieving angina in selected patients. Unfortunately, some patients experience early transient chest pain during their hospitalization. Early prolonged chest pain with electrocardiographic changes requires nursing attention because it may represent an acute complication of PTCA requiring immediate medical intervention.     

Persisting pain after cholecystectomy. A prospective investigation

A prospective survey of the short-term outcome after cholecystectomy was carried out under circumstances in which the study itself did not influence preoperative decision making or surgical procedures. Of 122 consecutive patients, 115 were evaluable. In all cases gallstones were verified preoperatively either by oral cholecystography or by ultrasonography. Follow-up study was 6-12 months postoperatively. Ninety-one patients (79.1%) reported satisfactory outcome in terms of complete relief of preoperative symptoms. Age, sex, preoperative pain characteristics, history of disease, type of surgery, histology, and complications did not predict the surgical outcome. A test for psychic vulnerability was included among preoperative data items. Psychic vulnerability was significantly associated with persisting pain irrespective of the above-mentioned factors. This suggests that psychologic factors influence the outcome after cholecystectomy with regard to pain relief.     

腹腔镜术后肩痛的研究进展

腹腔镜术后患者常出现肩痛,大多数学者认为其发生机制是气腹或气腹使用的二氧化碳(carbon dioxide,CO2)形成碳酸刺激膈神经导致的。气腹压力过高、残留膈下CO2过多、维持气腹的CO2充气速度过快等都可能引发术后肩痛。腹腔镜术后肩痛(post-laparoscopic shoulder pain,PLSP)以钝痛为主,没有明显的位点,多为轻到中度的疼痛。预防及降低腹腔镜术后肩痛的措施很多,包括外科、药物及护理等方面的措施,但效果各异,目前仍没有一个公认且效果确切的方法。该文就PLSP的发生机制、危险因素及降低术后肩痛方法的研究进展进行综述。