The First Dedicated Cardiac Rehabilitation Program for Patients With Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: Description and Initial Results.

Background: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an important cause of myocardial infarction in women, but the role of rehabilitation after SCAD is unclear.
Methods: We designed a dedicated SCAD cardiac rehabilitation (SCAD-CR) program for our SCAD survivors at Vancouver General Hospital. This program encompasses a multidisciplinary approach including exercise rehabilitation, psychosocial counselling, dietary and cardiovascular disease education, and peer group support. Exercise and educational classes were scheduled weekly with a targeted participation of 6 months. Psychosocial counselling, mindful living sessions, social worker and psychiatry evaluations, and peer-group support were offered.
Results: We report our first consecutive cohort of 70 SCAD women who joined SCAD-CR from November 2011 to April 2015. The average age was 52.3 ± 8.4 years. Mean participation duration was 12.4 ± 10.5 weeks; 28 completed 6 months, 48 completed ≥ 1 month. At entry, 44 (62.9%) had recurrent chest pains and average metabolic equivalents on exercise treadmill test was 10.1 ± 3.3. At program exit, the proportion with recurrent chest pains was lower (37.1%) and average metabolic equivalents was higher 11.5 ± 3.5 (both P < 0.001). There was a significant improvement in the STOP-D depression questionnaire, with mean scores of 13.0 ± 1.4 before and 8.0 ± 1.7 after the SCAD-CR (P = 0.046). Twenty (28.6%) social worker referrals and 19 (27.1%) psychiatry referrals were made. Mean follow-up was 3.8 ± 2.9 years from the presenting SCAD event, and the major cardiac adverse event rate was 4.3%, lower than our non-SCAD-CR cohort (n = 145; 26.2%; P < 0.001).
Conclusions: This is the first dedicated SCAD-CR program to address the unique exercise and psychosocial needs of SCAD survivors. Our program appears safe and beneficial in improving chest pain, exercise capacity, psychosocial well-being and cardiovascular events.
(Copyright © 2016 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)