BUFFALO, N.Y. — February is American Heart Health Month, and doctors are raising awareness about a common heart condition in younger people, especially women.
It's called SCAD, which is short for Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.
"Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection can be thought of as a tearing of the arteries of the heart, where the wall of the artery is compromised," Dr. Jason Kovacic told NBC News' Stephanie Gosk. "So there's poor blood supply beyond that ... that causes a heart attack."
Dr. Kovacic says SCAD is the most common cause of heart attack in younger women, and it is often undiagnosed.
"We're definitely seeing a lot more cases," he said. "It's a question to ask to whether there's truly more of this happening, or whether we're just a lot better at diagnosing and recognizing it."
Dr. Kovacic says he believes the latter when asked about it.
There is no cure for SCAD and no diagnostic test, so doctors are telling people not to ignore the warning signs.
They hope in the next decade, there will be specific therapies just for this condition.