[A woman with anginal symptoms and normal coronary arteries]

Abstract

Angina pectoris is usually the first manifestation ofischaemic heart disease. Men are more often affected than women, but women are often denied the full diagnostic work-up of ischaemic heart disease. A 58-year-old woman had typical angina, positive exercise electrocardiography and a negative coronary arteriogram: syndrome X. She was treated with a beta blocker, aspirin, a statin and an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, and eventually obtained relief of her symptoms.