ABSTRACT
This chapter describes recent field and laboratory research that has made use of these new technologies and that suggests important links between mental stress and myocardial ischemia. It reviews the characteristics of myocardial ischemia revealed by ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring, and then a discussion of field studies correlating patient diary reports with ECG findings. Advances in medical and surgical therapy directed at already identified Coronary artery disease (CAD) patients cannot eradicate the problem of silent and unpredictable cardiac events in previously asymptomatic individuals. Thus, a preventive approach to this health problem is recognized to be a necessity. This is reflected by concerted efforts on the part of public agencies and physicians to identify and reduce risk factors for CAD. Now that the ischemic effects of mental stress can be easily detected using cardiac imaging techniques, mental stress testing is likely to become a potent vehicle for studying the pathophysiology of transient myocardial ischemia.
