Greetings! Thank you for your question and welcome to HCM. I understand your concern.
Your cardiac
stress test came back positive, clearly. Although a highly sensitive to confirm or exclude coronary artery disease, it does not add help on specificity. Therefore, coronary angiogram is recommended in cases, such as yours, to further evaluate precisely where is(are) the blockage(s) and to construct the proper strategy to treat it(them). It is a procedure that can be carried out from the wrist artery (
radial artery) or the groin artery (
femoral artery) and is done under local anaesthesia. Having a positive cardiac stress test, lowers the significance of clinical symptoms. However, you also have clinical scenario of
chest tightness, which sent you to undergo a cardiac stress test in the first place. About the
cholesterol, the atherosclerotic plaques within the coronary arteries begin to form in early life and I do not think that treatment with a
statin a year ago would make a huge difference, since the coronary atherosclerotic plaque probably was there even last year, but not as severe and obstructive to cause symptoms. Depending on various clinics and countries, various high borderline levels of cholesterol are in use. For example, in our clinic a cholesterol of 5.5 mmol/l is not considered high.
I wish I was helpful. Good luck with the procedure.
Best regards,
Dr. Meriton