WASHINGTON, DC – Although nearly 1 million heart-related deaths occur each year, and the rates are about even among men and women, heart warning signs vary widely. Blockages in large arteries are usually discovered quickly, but blockages in small heart vessels are not. Women are much more likely to experience a small vessel disease called cardiac microvascular dysfunction and be misdiagnosed.

Selina Gore is the CEO of WomenHeart.org and, ironically, a heart patient herself. When her neck swelling and fatigue became severe, she went straight to the hospital nearly a dozen times, but she was sent home without being diagnosed.

“The bottom line of the ER document was that I was having a particularly rough day,” Selina recalls.

Research shows that testing and treatment differ depending on gender. Because cardiac microvascular dysfunction occurs almost exclusively in women, CMD remains undiagnosed if we only test for aortic disease, which is easy to test for.

Dr. Haider Hashim, an interventional cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, explains: In addition to the usual cardiac catheterization, it takes an additional 5 to 7 minutes. ”

Because CMD is not a formal diagnosis, testing is often not routine. Dr. Hashim recently successfully testified before the Centers for Disease Control to change this.

“The CDC has approved this capillary microcirculation disease as a recognized diagnosis, effective October 1, 2023,” Dr. Hashim says.

And that’s good news for Serena and for the 65 percent of heart patients with CMD who otherwise would never have been diagnosed or treated.

Dr. Hashim and his colleagues at MedStar are creating a registry of cardiac microvascular patient symptoms and diagnoses. This will soon become a national database, providing clinicians and researchers with further information on cardiac microvascular dysfunction.

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