AccScience Publishing / BH / Volume 3 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.36922/bh.4722
COMMENTARY

Pregnancy-associated coronary artery dissection (P-SCAD): A crucial differential diagnosis for chest pain during pregnancy

Muhammad Haris1† Amer Hammad2†* Vicky Kumar3
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1 Department of Internal Medicine, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
2 Department of Internal Medicine, Englewood Health/Hackensack University Medical Centre, Englewood, New Jersey, United States of America
3 Department of Internal Medicine, Dow Medical College, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Brain & Heart 2025, 3(1), 4722 https://doi.org/10.36922/bh.4722
Submitted: 31 August 2024 | Revised: 10 December 2024 | Accepted: 23 December 2024 | Published: 19 February 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Pregnancy-associated spontaneous coronary artery dissection (P-SCAD) is a rare but severe cause of acute coronary syndrome. The clinical presentation of P-SCAD can vary widely, ranging from asymptomatic cases to cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death. Chest pain is the most common presenting symptom, though other symptoms, such as dyspnea, nausea, vomiting, and palpitations, may also occur. P-SCAD is often underdiagnosed because patients typically do not fit the profile of those with atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. It predominantly occurs in younger individuals without traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The diagnosis of P-SCAD is commonly made during coronary angiography. Therefore, in pregnant and postpartum females presenting with chest pain or pressure, P-SCAD should be considered in the differential diagnosis, regardless of the presence of other risk factors such as age, hypertension, or diabetes.

Keywords
Pregnancy-associated spontaneous coronary artery dissection
Acute coronary syndrome
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Brain & Heart, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4139 Published by AccScience Publishing