Clinical Research Studies

Heart damage in patients with chest pain or related symptoms is usually due to one or more blockages, due to cholesterol (a type of fat in the body) build-up, in the coronary arteries (the vessels of the heart that deliver oxygen). In some patients, in women more than in men, there are no obvious, severe blockages seen on the standard imaging test we do to look at the arteries, called a cardiac catheterization or coronary angiogram. This is the case in 5-20% of cases of heart attack. In these patients, the cause of heart damage is not well understood. It could be plaque (buildup of cholesterol) which is not seen by traditional tests or it could be a change in blood flow to the heart caused by artery wall spasms (sudden narrowing) or another reason. More information is needed through research to understand this problem. The purpose of this study is to use a special angiogram technique called optical coherence tomography (OCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), both described below, to try to find the reason for heart damage in patients with open arteries.