Can you have a heart attack with no blockage?

My husband went to the er with all symptoms of heart attack except chest pain. He had elevated enzymes and 3 ekgs that screamed heart attack. They treated him for a heart attack, but then did a scan and said there was no blockage so it wasn't a heart attack. What else could it be. He is still in the hospital in terrible pain. The pain is above his right kidney. I'm getting scared, can anyone give me some ideas?

Elevated enzymes specifically troponin usually indicate damage to heart muscle. Most commonly this is due to a "blockage" in a major artery or branch. Uncommonly, In younger patients there can be spasm of arteries which will cause identical ecg and enzyme rise as a heart attack, but when the spasm resolves, the angiogram or CT angio ("scan") will be normal.

Alternatively, there may be pericarditis "inflammation around the heart" which will cause similiar findings.

Finally small vessel disease is possible where the microscopic vessels can be narrowed but do not show up on "scans".

Generally speaking if the angiogram is normal, the risk of anything serious is very low.

You should ask the cardiologist looking after your husband though.

did they prescribe diuretics for him? he may have excess fluid building in this thorasic cavity, which would build pressure, constricting his heart, making it work harder, raising his blood pressure, causing the heart muscle to get larger and thicker. if this continues, his heart will wear out. is he highly over weight, under a lot of stress, enactive? check out his family, there may be someone else that have had this condition. they might know what it is. its not advertised, but sometimes docs have to rely on family history to diagnose conditions. good luck and take care of your hubby.

It could be his kidney, or I saw somewhere people were in terrible pain because they had ate raw meat.Ask the docter to check for cancer kindey/liver problems. and check what he has ate before that happened. Good luck!

These other people are skipping around the answer. Yes, it is possible to have a heart attack with no significant blockage. As for the kidney pain, it is difficult to determine based on feelings of pain what is actually disturbed, especially in the abdomen. Nocioreceptors and innervated neurons which transmit pain information to the brain are very delicate especially in the kidney-stomach area....an MRI or other equivalent scan should be done

YES YOU CAN


INFLAMATION OF THE ARTERIES ORRRRR ARTERIAL SPASM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MARATHONERS GET THIS ALL THE TIME