Painless myocardial ischemia and atherosclerous valvulopathies--their great statistical prevalence.

3384 patients over 40 years old referred to our Cardiovascular Laboratory for overt cardiovascular complaints were examined by usual non-invasive investigations. Painless myocardial ischemia (PMI) prevalence was 17.49% and degenerative aortic and mitral valvulopathies incidence was 15.

Asymptomatic electrocardiographic ischemia and silent myocardial ischemia.

Silent myocardial ischemia is undoubtedly the second most prevalent cardiovascular disease after arterial hypertension. Considering its statistical and social importance, the authors, while admitting the less specific coronary character of this entity, do not agree with its being omitted from the last classification of coronary disease (1979), in which especially/angina pectoris and myocardial infarction are emphasized. In the present paper, which opens up an investigation into initially silent ischemia carried out on a great number of cases, the authors discuss the preliminary observations derived from a ten-year (1976-1986) follow up of 56 cases of initially asymptomatic electrocardiographic ischemia with an electric localization suggesting specific coronary territories.