And, they should avoid any of the recreational and therapeutic drugs listed in the above signs and symptoms and risk factors sections as well as blockers of beta receptors such as propranolol which may theoretically worsen vasospasm by inhibiting beta-2 adrenergic receptors vasodilation effect mediated by these receptors naturally occurring stimulator i.e. epinephrine. In addition, aspirin should be used with caution and at low doses since at high doses it inhibits the production of the naturally occurring vasodilator, prostacyclin. Treatment
Acute attacks
During acute attacks, individuals typically respond well to fast-acting sublingual, intravenous, or spray nitroglycerin formulations. The onset of symptom relief in response to intravenous administration, which is used in more severe attacks of angina, occurs almost immediately while sublingual formulations of it act within 1–5 minutes. Spray formulations also require ~1–5 minutes to act. Maintenance
As maintenance therapy, sublingual nitroglycerin tablets can be taken 3-5 min before conducting activity that causes angina by the small percentage of patients who experience angina infrequently and only when doing such activity. For most affected individuals, antianginals are used as maintenance therapy to avoid attacks of variant angina. Calcium channel blockers of the dihydropyridine class (e.g. nifedipine, amlodipine) or non-dihydropyridine class (e.g. verapamil, diltiazem) are regarded as first-line drugs to avoid angina attacks. Long-acting nitroglycerins such as isosorbide dinitrate or intermittent use of short-acting nitroglycerin (to treat acute symptoms) may be added to the calcium channel blocker regimen in individuals responding sub-optimally to the channel blockers. However, individuals commonly develop tolerance, i.e.
They are also tested by ECG which may suggest variant angina if it shows elevations in the ST segment or an elevated ST segment plus a widening of the R wave during symptoms that are triggered by a provocative agent (e.g. ergonovine or acetylcholine). The electrocardiogram may show depressions rather than elevations in ST segments but in all diagnosable cases clinical symptoms should be promptly relieved and ECG changes should be promptly reversed by rapidly acting sublingual or intravenous nitroglycerin. However, the gold standard for diagnosing variant angina is to visualize coronary arteries by angiography before and after injection of a provocative agent such as ergonovine, methylergonovine or acetylcholine to precipitate an attack of vasospasm. A positive test to these inducing agents is defined as a ≥90% (some experts require lesser, e.g. ≥70%) constriction of involved arteries. Typically, these constrictions are fully reversed by rapidly acting nitroglycerin.Individuals with variant angina may have many undocumented episodes of symptom-free coronary artery spasm that are associated with poor blood flow to portions of the heart and subsequent irregular and potentially serious heart arrhythmias. Accordingly, individuals with variant angina should be intermittently evaluated for this using long-term ambulatory cardiac monitoring. Prevention
Numerous methods are recommended to avoid attacks of variant angina. Affected individuals should not smoke tobacco products. Smoke cessation significantly reduces the incidence of patient-reported variant angina attacks. They should also avoid any trigger known to them to trigger these attacks such as emotional distress, hyperventilation, unnecessary exposure to cold, and early morning exertion.