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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Chest pain
The most common symptom of small vessel disease is chest pain (angina). You may feel squeezing or discomfort over your central or left chest, often associated with discomfort in your left arm or jaw. Chest pain associated with small vessel disease often starts while you're doing something active, such as climbing a flight of stairs or walking on a treadmill. It's also possible you'll have chest pains from small vessel disease even when you're at rest, especially if you're older than 65.
More subtle signs and symptoms of small vessel disease include:
- Neck, shoulder, upper back or abdominal discomfort
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea or vomiting
- Sweating
- Lightheadedness, dizziness or feeling faint
- Unusual fatigue
Small vessel disease symptoms may be hard to uncover if you've been diagnosed with coronary artery disease. If you've been treated for coronary artery disease with angioplasty and stents, but your signs and symptoms persist, you may also have small vessel disease.
When to see a doctor
It might be difficult to tell if your signs and symptoms are due to small vessel disease, but if you have chest pain, see your doctor to find out the cause. If you're having other signs and symptoms, such as shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, dizziness or pain that radiates beyond your chest to one or both of your arms or your neck — seek emergency medical care immediately.
- Mayo Clinic Health Letter. "Small vessel heart disease." October 2007. Vol. 25, No. 10, pp. 1-3.
- Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource. "Small vessel heart disease." February 2008. Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 1-2
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. "What is coronary microvascular disease?" September 2007. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/cmd/cmd_all.html (Viewed 4-22-08).
- Camici PC, Crea F. Coronary microvascular dysfunction. New England Journal of Medicine. 2007, Vol. 356, pp. 830-840.
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- Tiano L, et al. Effect of coenzyme Q10 administration on endothelial function and extracellular superoxide dismutase in patients with ischaemic heart disease: a double-blind, randomized controlled study. European Heart Journal. 2007, Vol. 28, pp. 2249-2255.
- Kurth T, et al. Migraine and ischaemic vascular events. Cephalalgia. 2007;27(8):965-975.
- Barrett BJ, et al. Differences in hormonal and renal vascular responses between normotensive patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and unaffected family members. Kidney International. 1994;46(4):1118-1123.
- Schoenfeld Y, et al. Accelerated Atherosclerosis in Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases. Circulation. 2005;112(21):3337-3347.
