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Angina

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Call 911 for Sudden Chest Pain

If you have any sudden or unexplained chest pain, call 911 immediately.

What is Angina?

Angina (or angina pectoris) is chest pain caused by not enough blood flow to the heart. It can be a warning sign of a heart attack at some point, though not necessarily immediately.

The symptoms can be similar to a heart attack. People who have angina can experience these symptoms in different ways:

Chest pain
Feeling of pressure, tightness or squeezing in the chest
Increased chest pain when emotional or anxious
Increased chest pain during exertion
Pain or pressure in the back, neck, jaw, or shoulders
Pain or pressure in the arms, especially the left arm
Pain or nausea in the upper abdomen

Women and men tend to have different symptoms; fewer than 60% of women will have a main complaint of chest pain. Women more often experience shortness of breath, fatigue, and/or generalized weakness.

UR Medicine's Treatments for Angina

Heart disease remains the number one killer in the U.S., and the best way to beat it is to prevent it. UR Medicine’s Preventive Cardiology Program offers the most advanced, proven methods for preventing heart disease and enjoying a healthy lifestyle.

The first of its kind in the Rochester metropolitan area and surrounding region, our program features

Support in quitting smoking.
The Rochester metropolitan area and surrounding region's only Women’s Heart Program.
Diet and exercise programs to help you lose weight and reduce your risk.
Heart disease prevention for the whole family, including high-risk relatives.
Research and access to the most advanced approaches for preventing heart disease.

Several tests may be done, including an electrocardiogram (ECG), stress test, or angiogram.

In many cases, chest pain is caused by coronary artery disease, in which plaque builds up on the walls of your arteries, restricting blood flow to your heart. When this happens, doctors at UR Medicine Cardiac Care will determine the best treatment:

Medication. Patients with early coronary artery disease can get good results from various medications.
Balloon angioplasty. A thin tube (catheter) is inserted through an incision and threaded up to the blockage. A tiny “balloon” is inflated, pushing fatty deposits to the sides of the blood vessel and restoring blood flow to your heart. UR Medicine Cardiac Care also offers laser angioplasty, which breaks down plaque with a laser.
Stent placement. A miniature, wire-mesh tube called a stent can be used to open up a blocked artery. Stents are placed in a minimally invasive procedure.
Bypass. In a coronary artery bypass graft, a blood vessel from another part of your body is used to go around, or bypass, a blocked artery that supplies your heart.
Lifestyle changes. It’s also important to make choices such as healthy eating, quitting smoking, and exercising to help maintain your cardiac health.

What Sets Us Apart?

UR Medicine Cardiac Care offers all of the most advanced treatments available for angina pectoris and coronary artery disease.

As the only institution in the area that’s part of an academic medical center, we do leading-edge research that keeps us at the forefront of the most advanced therapies for heart disease.

We also have created the Women’s Heart Program, because there are differences between women and men when it comes to heart problems. These include risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. We’ve built a team of experts around personalized heart care for women.