Interventions for Evaluation of Myocardial Ischemia

Myocardial ischemia is caused by decreased oxygen supply, increased demand, or a combination of the two. The episodes of ischemia may be silent (painless) or with pain. The concept of “total ischemic burden” was introduced to represent the sum of all episodes of ischemia.1 The painful episodes, which may be due to increased workload on the heart or an increase in vasoconstrictor tone with decreased supply, and the painless episodes constitute the total ischemia burden.