The Syndrome of Relief of Angina Pectoris Following Myocardial Infarction

¹ The Medical Service, Beth David Hospital.

Cases are reported to illustrate that there may be relief from severe and often intractable angina pectoris following acute myocardial infarction. While the cases described showed varying clinical manifestations and varying localization of cardiac pathology, there was the common experience of relief from chest pain following acute coronary artery occlusion. The likely explanation for the relief is that compensatory collateral circulation had developed during the period when angina pectoris was present.

In addition to the theory of increased collateral circulation following coronary artery narrowing, it has been theorized that transformation of an ischemic myocardial area into scar tissue might prevent the origin of painful stimuli.¹⁰ The latter theory seems less likely in view of the relatively good functional capacity after myocardial infarction in the patients described.