Prinzmetal angina
Other Known Aliases – variant angina
Definition – chest pain that occurs in the absence of exertion, often at rest and sometimes waking the patient up from sleep.
Clinical Significance – this type of angina classically is caused by vasospasm of the coronary vessels with or without superimposed antherosclerosis.
History – Named after Myron Prinzmetal (1908-1987), who was an American cardiologist and received his medical doctorate from UCSF School of Medicine in 1933. His career focused mainly on hypertension and heart dysrhythmias with over 160 publications to his name. He published the article describing his eponymous disease in 1959 entitled “Angina pectoris I: A variant form of angina pectoris”.
References
- Firkin BG and Whitwirth JA. Dictionary of Medical Eponyms. 2nd ed. New York, NY; Parthenon Publishing Group. 1996.
- Bartolucci S, Forbis P. Stedman’s Medical Eponyms. 2nd ed. Baltimore, MD; LWW. 2005.
- Yee AJ, Pfiffner P. (2012). Medical Eponyms (Version 1.4.2) [Mobile Application Software]. Retrieved http://itunes.apple.com.
- Whonamedit – dictionary of medical eponyms. http://www.whonamedit.com
- Up To Date. www.uptodate.com
- PRINZMETAL M, KENNAMER R, MERLISS R, WADA T, BOR N. Angina pectoris. I. A variant form of angina pectoris; preliminary report. The American journal of medicine. 1959; 27:375-88. [pubmed]
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