When a Woman’s Symptoms Tell a Different Story: Karen’s Life-Saving Heart Surgery

For more than a year, Karen, 63, from Fenton, Missouri, believed the burning in her chest was acid reflux. After eating, she often felt a sharp, radiating discomfort that moved from her throat into her chest. Doctors suspected gastrointestinal issues. 

Karen saw specialists, adjusted her diet, and tried different medications to calm the burning that began in her esophagus, the muscular tube that connects the throat to the stomach. She underwent multiple tests including swallowing studies, esophagus evaluations, and even a stress test. Everything came back normal. 
“I was frustrated,” Karen says. “I couldn’t get answers and thought I was running out of options. No one could find anything wrong, but I knew something wasn’t right.”

A hidden heart problem revealed

Everything changed one evening when Karen was unable to catch her breath, walk across the room, or lie down. She told her husband she felt worse than she ever had in her life. They immediately went to Missouri Baptist Medical Center’s Emergency Department where physicians quickly determined her condition wasn’t her gastrointestinal tract, it was her heart. 

Tests revealed her heart's ejection fraction, a measurement that indicates the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each heartbeat, had dropped to 13%. A normal measurement is 55–70%. Karen was diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease, meaning the arteries supplying blood to her heart were dangerously narrowed and unable to deliver the oxygen her heart needed to work properly. 

“Most patients with a heart function that low are in heart-transplant territory,” says Linda Schulte, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Missouri Baptist. “Although she was very high risk for surgery, we knew we had to act quickly.”
Patients can have a low ejection fraction, but what really matters is how the heart muscle itself is functioning. If the muscle has been starved of blood for too long, parts of it may be permanently damaged. 

“We talked to Karen extensively about the risks and possible need for support devices such as a temporary pump after surgery,” Dr. Schulte says, “but she was a fighter and knew that she wanted to try.”
An MRI confirmed that while Karen’s heart muscle was weak, much of it was still healthy enough for bypass surgery to help restore blood flow. 

Second chance at life

Dr. Schulte performed triple vessel coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). This open-heart surgery takes a healthy blood vessel from another part of Karen’s body and uses it to bypass the blocked arteries, allowing blood to reach the heart muscle. Due to the expertise of the cardiac surgery team at Missouri Baptist, she came through the high-risk surgery quickly and without the need for additional support devices.

Karen recovered wonderfully from the surgery. She is no longer experiencing any discomfort in her chest and she is enjoying traveling and spending time with her family and friends. “I am deeply grateful to the team that took care of me throughout my hospital stay,” Karen says. “Dr. Schulte is heaven-sent. She’s brilliantly smart and an amazing physician. I genuinely believe I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her care and expertise.”  

Trust your instincts

Dr. Schulte says Karen’s experience highlights an important truth: women’s heart disease symptoms often look different than men’s. Subtle symptoms such as unusual fatigue, lightheadedness, indigestion, or shortness of breath can be easy to overlook, but they may signal something serious.

“Heart disease in women doesn’t always look like the classic chest pain you see on TV,” Dr. Schulte says. “Symptoms can be much more subtle, which is one reason women’s heart issues are sometimes misdiagnosed.
“I never thought I could be at risk,” Karen says. “I looked healthy, stayed active, and felt strong. But heart disease doesn’t always show itself on the outside—it can happen to anyone.”

“Listen to your body, trust your instincts, and seek expert heart care when something doesn’t feel quite right to you,” Dr. Schulte says.

For more information about heart health and to understand risks of heart disease, visit our heart care page  or talk with your primary care provider. 

Common signs of heart disease in women:

• Chest discomfort or pressure that may feel like fullness, squeezing, or burning rather than sharp pain
• Pain that spreads to the neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back, or abdomen
• Shortness of breath, even without chest pain
• Nausea or vomiting
• Unusual fatigue or weakness, especially if sudden or extreme
• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• Cold sweats
• Indigestion or heartburn-like feelings
   

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms or if something just doesn’t feel right, contact your primary care physician, or call 911 if you symptoms are sudden and severe.