Long-term prognosis of patients with cardiac syndrome X

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. CONCLUSION: 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.