CORonary MICrovascular Angina (CorMicA)

Angina is form of chest pain that is due to a lack of blood to the heart muscle. Angina is commonly triggered by stress and exertion, and is a common health problem worldwide. The diagnosis and treatment of angina is usually focused on detection of blockages in heart arteries, and relief of this problem with drugs, stents or bypass surgery. However, about one third of all invasive angiograms that are performed in patients with angina do not reveal any blockages. Many of such patients may have symptoms due to narrowings in the very small micro vessels (too small to be seen on an angiogram). The purpose of this research is to undertake a \'proof-of-concept\' clinical trial to gather information as to whether routine tests of small vessel function in the heart might help identify patients with a stable coronary syndrome due to a disorder of coronary function (vasospastic or microvascular angina), and appropriately rule out this problem in patients with normal test results. The diagnostic strategy enables stratification of patient sub-groups to optimized therapy (personalised medicine). Evidence of patient benefits in this study would support the plan for a larger study that would be designed to impact on healthcare costs and patient reported outcome measures (PROMS).