Treatment of Prinzmetal's variant angina. Role of medical treatment with nifedipine and surgical coronary revascularization combined with plexectomy.

This study describes three forms of treatment of Prinzmetal's variant angina. Coronary spasm, frequently found at coronary arteriography in patients with Prinzmetal's variant angina, can be treated with intravenous or intracoronary injection of nitroglycerin as well as of nifedipine. Nifedipine (0.2 mg) was injected directly into the involved artery in 12 patients and suppressed spasm in 9; in 3 patients, nifedipine increased coronary sinus flow, which had been decreased by spasm in one of the branches of the left coronary artery. Patients with Prinzmetal's variant angina who have spasm superimposed on atherosclerotic lesions can benefit from coronary arterial bypass grafting combined with partial denervation of the heart. This combination yielded acceptable results (83.4 percent favorable outcome); recurrence of attacks occurred in only 6.7 percent of this group. In those forms of angina in which spasm occurs in angiographically normal coronary arteries, therapy is essentially medical. In 13 patients treated with oral nifedipine (30 to 40 mg/day), suppression of attacks was achieved in 11 instances. During the period of treatment, the methergine provocative test, which had been consistently positive before treatment, converted to negative in 12 patients. Transient withdrawal of nifedipine caused recurrence of pain in two patients.