LCHM Summer 2017 - 6
FEATURE
This article in question and answer format was designed
by Candy Barr Heimbach, Esquire, and Jill Kelly McComsey, Esquire, to educate local care providers about a
less common cause of heart attack that disproportionately
impacts young, otherwise healthy women who have generally
made healthy lifestyle choices - Spontaneous Coronary
Artery Dissection or SCAD. Because many local families
have been impacted by SCAD, it is important for care
providers to understand SCAD and ensure all patients'
complaints of heart attack symptoms are taken seriously.
Spontaneous
Coronary Artery
Dissection
The Not-So-Rare Cause of Heart Attack
Local SCAD Stories
There are a number of local families who have
been impacted by SCAD, once thought to be a
rare disease. According to the experts, SCAD is
far more common than previously recognized
and prevention is frighteningly elusive.
Jill Kelly McComsey's
SCAD Story
In 2012, at age 36, Jill Kelly McComsey
was a young Bethlehem lawyer and a mom
of two toddlers, 15 months apart. Jill was
hoping to once again train for a triathlon. Her
endurance training came to an immediate
halt after she suffered a heart attack following
a swim workout. When Jill pulled herself out
of the pool, she felt an uncomfortable feeling
in her upper abdomen behind her breast bone,
which she dismissed as a pulled muscle. Two
6 Lehigh County Health & Medicine | SUMMER 2017
mornings later, however, that pain returned and
did not go away. It evolved into pressure across
the chest, nausea, vomiting and weakness in the
arms. Jill went to the ER, where her EKG was
normal and the first blood draw was normal.
The ER doctor told her that it was unlikely her
symptoms were caused by a cardiac event. In
fact, discharge paperwork was being filled out
prior to a second blood draw. The second blood
draw did reveal elevated troponin levels, which
led to admission into the hospital and ultimately
a catheterization. A catheterization revealed that
Jill had actually suffered a heart attack caused
by spontaneous coronary artery dissection. The
diagnosis was almost missed.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LCHM Summer 2017
LCHM Summer 2017 - 1
LCHM Summer 2017 - 2
LCHM Summer 2017 - 3
LCHM Summer 2017 - 4
LCHM Summer 2017 - 5
LCHM Summer 2017 - 6
LCHM Summer 2017 - 7
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