One out of every two women will die of heart disease. It is the single greatest health risk for women today-more than stroke and all cancers combined. In the course of her practice, and as chief of Women's Cardiac Care at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital, Dr. Nieca Goldberg has come to a startling realization: Women experience heart disease in a fundamentally different way than men do.

The physiology of a woman's heart attack is not the same as a man's, the symptoms of heart disease and signs of impending heart attack differ for women,...