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Young and fit? Like Stan, you could still experience an uncommon heart attack called SCAD
February 23, 2026
“I’m just tired, or getting a cold.”
Those were Stan Byrne’s first thoughts during her regular evening run. The healthy 49-year-old was short of breath and having chest pain, but was quick to dismiss the discomfort.
As she started to feel more and more faint, she realized something wasn’t right. The mom of two called a friend when she got home who urged her to visit the Emergency Department.
At the hospital, her tests looked normal, until the results from the blood test came back. Her cardiac enzymes were high – Stan had experienced a heart attack.
“I check none of the risk-factor boxes. I have low cholesterol, no family history of heart issues, exercise regularly and have been a vegetarian for 30 years,” says Stan. She was prescribed a standard course of treatment for a heart attack and began to take blood pressure medication.
At the time, neither Stan nor her care team realized she had experienced an uncommon and underdiagnosed condition called Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, or SCAD.
While heart health is important for everyone to think about, it is especially significant for women. Heart disease and stroke are the leading cause of premature death in women in Canada.
“SCAD occurs when a coronary artery tears, or bleeding occurs within the coronary artery wall. It can block blood supply to the heart, causing a heart attack. This is different from a traditional heart attack resulting from “cholesterol plaque” build-up or rupture,” explains Dr. Mina Madan, an interventional cardiologist who leads Sunnybrook’s SCAD Clinic.
The condition most commonly affects women in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and can be seen in up to a third of cases of younger women with heart attacks. Dr. Madan explains that for many patients, SCAD is associated with a disease called fibromuscular dysplasia which causes structural changes to the walls of arteries supplying the heart, and the rest of the body. The changes in the artery walls makes it easier to develop bleeding within these arteries during periods of emotional stress or physical strain.
Dr. Madan and her team in Sunnybrook’s Schulich Heart Program have developed a resource for patients called the ABCs and FAQs of SCAD
. Stan says the booklet has been invaluable during her recovery, with practical answers to her questions where it can be a challenge to get reliable information about this rare condition.
“This type of heart event is rare enough that many clinicians don’t have detailed knowledge about the best interventions,” says Dr. Madan. “Luckily, unlike regular heart attacks, SCAD often heals without invasive intervention and can be treated and managed with medication and lifestyle changes.”
Now, Stan is back in the swing of things with work and caring for her young children. She takes a daily medication to heal the torn artery and reduce heart workload, including beta blockers.
Her advice for women is to listen to their bodies and take anything unusual seriously.
“As women in middle age, we have many responsibilities. We are often so busy caring for others, it can be easy to put off our own needs in service to the people and work around us. SCAD events are serious and can be underdiagnosed. It is important to advocate for your health and well-being,” says Stan.
