The Vithas Cardiovascular Institute offers an innovative care model in this specialty, featuring cutting-edge technology and accessible professionals with great reputation. When facing highly improbable medical emergencies, it’s essential to have the best medical teams for detection. In January 2023, Mónica Sánchez visited the Vithas Madrid La Milagrosa University Hospital due to severe back pain, and she was diagnosed with an atypical, almost imperceptible heart attack, detectable only with the right resources and experience.
“At first, I didn’t know it was a heart attack. I had fallen a few days earlier and thought the pain was due to the trauma, but the doctor was suspicious. I was in shock when I found out it was a heart attack,” says the story’s protagonist, visibly grateful. “If there is an angel, mine is Cristina, my cardiologist,” declares Mónica.
She was treated at the Vithas Madrid La Milagrosa University Hospital, one of the hospitals that comprise the Vithas Cardiovascular Institute (ICV), the capital’s first cardiological center of excellence.
“What Mónica experienced was a somewhat atypical heart attack because it was caused by the dissection of a coronary artery,” explains Cristina Sánchez, clinical cardiologist at the Vithas La Milagrosa University Hospital (Madrid). “It’s an unusual case where the causes are not the classic cardiovascular risk factors. It’s more common in women due to hormonal reasons,” she details. In fact, according to the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC), up to 30% of myocardial infarctions in women under 60 are caused by spontaneous coronary artery dissection.
Speed is crucial: thanks to the coordination and excellence of the ICV professionals, the heart attack was successfully resolved. After several tests, Cristina raised the alarm, and the hemodynamic team performed a catheterization to evaluate the coronary arteries and any obstructions. “In heart attacks, speed makes the difference, so coordination among all the professionals that make up the ICV is fundamental,” explains Dr. Cristina Sánchez.
Hemodynamics room of the Vithas Cardiovascular Institute at the Vithas Madrid La Milagrosa University Hospital. Indeed, thanks to these means and the excellence of the specialists, Mónica’s heart attack was successfully resolved. “The Vithas Cardiovascular Institute is an ambitious project that ensures quality in cardiological care. A model equipped with state-of-the-art medical technology and supported by highly reputable, accessible professionals in the same center,” highlights Dr. Fernando Sánchez Perales, medical director of the Vithas Madrid La Milagrosa University Hospital.
A Different Approach to Cardiology The Vithas Cardiovascular Institute, with four integrated units (interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery, clinical cardiology, and arrhythmias), relies on personalized, patient-centered care. This approach to medicine is also shared by Dr. Cristina Sánchez, who argues that “the future of the profession in general, not just cardiology, is a medicine that is based and pivoted on the patient.” “The patient must be the focus of attention,” she emphasizes.
Vithas Madrid La Milagrosa is integrated within the Vithas Cardiovascular Institute, Madrid’s first cardiological center of excellence. “We must empower patients who, in my view, are vulnerable individuals needing help to overcome an illness or live with it. We need to provide them with tools, both information and training, so they fully understand what they have and why medication and prevention are important. By doing this, it’s proven that the incidence of new events is much lower,” she insists.
What are Heart Attacks Like in Women? Although the majority of the population associates heart attacks with men, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in adults worldwide, although the symptoms differ between sexes. “In women, the pains are more atypical: they don’t feel that oppressive pain in the center of the chest radiating to the left arm, with sweating… They are often other types of pain,” clarifies the doctor, specifying that these ailments usually affect the stomach and sometimes the back.
In this sense, Dr. Cristina Sánchez regrets that it’s proven that the delay in diagnosing heart attacks in women is greater. “If it weren’t for the nurse at my work and my colleague who said what was happening to me was not normal, I would have gone back home,” says Mónica, very grateful.
Coronary angiography image with coronary dissection. A non-diagnosed and untreated heart attack can lead to malignant arrhythmias, ischemia if an area of the heart is not irrigated, and – in the worst case – death, informs Dr. S
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