The Heart Condition Doctors Most Often Miss in Women

WASHINGTON, D.C. – There are nearly one million heart-related deaths each year – evenly split between men and women – but cardiac warning signs vary widely. Large artery blockages are usually spotted quickly, but not those in small heart vessels. Women are much more likely to experience small vessel disease, called cardio microvascular dysfunction, and be misdiagnosed.

Celina Gorre is the CEO of WomenHeart.org and, ironically, is a heart patient, herself. When neck fullness and fatigue hit hard, she headed straight to the hospital nearly a dozen times, only to be sent home undiagnosed.

“The conclusion of those ER docs was that I was having a particularly hard day,” Celina recalls.

Studies show gender makes a difference in testing and treatment. Because cardio microvascular dysfunction occurs almost exclusively in women, if they’re tested only for large artery disease, then CMD remains undiagnosed – but it’s an easy test.

Interventional cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Hayder Hashim, MD explains, “So, it’s very simple. It’s an additional five to seven minutes extra on top of a regular diagnostic cardiac catheterization.”

Testing for CMD is often not routine because it hasn’t been an official diagnosis. Dr. Hashim recently testified before the Centers for Disease Control in an effort to change that, and he was successful.

“The CDC approved it as a diagnosis, as of October first 2023, that this disease of the micro circulation of the capillaries, is now a recognized diagnosis,” Dr. Hashim says.

And that is good news for both Celina, as well as the 65 percent of heart patients with CMD who otherwise would go undiagnosed and untreated.

Dr. Hashim and his MedStar colleagues are compiling a registry of cardio microvascular patient symptoms and diagnoses that will soon become a national database to provide more information for clinicians and researchers on cardio microvascular dysfunction.

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