Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) Coronary Vascular Dysfunction

September 15, 2025 updated by: Noel Bairey Merz, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

This research study is designed to investigate the approaches to noninvasive detection and assessment of coronary vascular dysfunction in women by comparing the testing results from the invasive standard care diagnostic procedure Angiogram and from the additional noninvasive diagnostic procedure CMR Imaging. The investigators want to specifically study 375 female patients who have signs or symptoms suggestive of heart disease but don't have obstructive coronary artery disease. Two study sites (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and University of Florida) are recruiting participants.

The standard of care procedures include demographics, review of recent clinical symptoms, review of medications being taken, a physical exam, pre-angiogram blood collection, chest x-ray, ECG and heart angiogram. The research procedures for this study are the cold pressor testing, blood/urine collection, health questionnaire, the post-angiogram ECG and cardiac MRI.

Patients will be asked to undergo heart angiogram testing to test for abnormalities in their heart arteries. If the heart angiogram shows that the patients do not have blockages in major heart arteries, then the patients will have coronary flow reserve measurement test (as part of the heart angiogram) to determine whether the patients have abnormally functioning of the small heart arteries. This test will be performed by infusing the three drugs: adenosine, acetylcholine and nitroglycerin. The three drugs are naturally occurring substances and have been used for routine heart angiograms.

Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) imaging may help us more easily and non-invasively detect abnormalities in the inner layer of the heart muscle resulting from the abnormal function of the heart arteries. All the 375 participants will undergo baseline CMR imaging test and a subgroup of 200 participants will undergo a second CMR imaging test at their at least 1-year followup visit.

Patients will be followed up using phone questionnaires at 6 weeks, 6 months for 5 years, and than annually for 20 years thereafter. Other procedures in this study include obtaining informed consent, review of demographics, physical examination, ECG, blood and urine tests, clinical symptoms, medications, questionnaires, etc. The core laboratories include Blood, Lipoprotein, Chemistry Core Lab, Reproductive Hormone Core Lab, Inflammatory Marker Core Lab, Oxidative Stress Core Lab, and Angiographic Core Lab. Additionally, GCRC at Cedars Sinai will process, store and ship samples as needed/required.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

See Brief Summary above.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

433

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90048
        • Cedars-Sinai Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center
    • Florida
      • Gainesville, Florida, United States, 32610-0277
        • University of Florida

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 85 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Women undergoing clinically-ordered coronary angiography for suspected ischemia will be recruited. See the inclusion and exclusion criteria for details.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Symptomatic angina or anginal equivalent;
  2. Aged 18 years or older;
  3. No obstructive CAD at coronary angiography (performed within the previous 24 months).
  4. Competent to give informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Obstructive CAD ≥ 50% luminal diameter stenosis in ≥ 1 epicardial coronary artery,
  2. Acute coronary syndrome (defined by the ACC/AHA criteria, Braunwald 2000),
  3. Primary valvular heart disease clearly indicating the need for valve repair or replacement;
  4. Patients with concurrent cardiogenic shock or requiring inotropic or intra-aortic balloon support;
  5. Prior or planned percutaneous coronary intervention or CABG,
  6. Acute MI;
  7. Prior non-cardiac illness with an estimated life expectancy < 4 years;
  8. Unable to give informed consent;
  9. Chest pain with a non-ischemic etiology (e.g.,pericarditis, pneumonia, esophageal spasm);
  10. Contraindications to CMRI (e.g., AICD, pacemaker, untreatable claustrophobia or known angio-edema).
  11. Contraindications to adenosine or Regadenoson (Lexiscan)
  12. Women with intermediate coronary stenoses (> 20% but < 50% luminal diameter stenosis assessed visually at the time of angiography) will undergo clinically indicated IVUS testing based on the judgment of the operator; those determined to have flow-obstructing stenosis will be excluded from the overall study.
  13. Participation in a research study that conflicts with the current WISE study.
  14. Women with coronary stenosis ≥ 50% in any epicardial coronary artery, assessed visually at the time of angiography, will not be included in the CRT subgroup.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Abnormal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI)
Time Frame: 30 years
Subjects will be contacted at 6-week followup and then annually indefinitely.
30 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Resource utilization and costs
Time Frame: 30 years
Annual costs will include cardiovascular hospitalizations, coronary revascularizations and angiography, outpatient testing, and visits to generalists, specialists, nurse practitioners/ physician's assistants, or community clinics.
30 years
Persistent Chest Pain Symptoms
Time Frame: 30 years
Detailed information on chest pain symptoms will include the traditional angina questionnaire and the WISE female angina questionnaire
30 years
Quality of Life Outcomes
Time Frame: 30 years
Quality of life and functional capacity will be collected using the standard instruments of SAQ and DASI
30 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Collaborators

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
University of Pittsburgh
University of Florida

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, FACC, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
  • Principal Investigator: Carl J Pepine, MD, MACC, University of Florida

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 17, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 15, 2015

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 31, 2051

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 28, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 29, 2009

First Posted (Estimated)

January 30, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

September 19, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 15, 2025

Last Verified

September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB# 14906
  • 5R01HL090957 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

Drug and device information, study documents

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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