Posttraumatic myocardial infarction with severe coronary intimal dissection documented by intravascular ultrasound

Coronary artery occlusion following blunt chest trauma: a case report and review of the literature

Blunt chest trauma causing coronary artery occlusion and myocardial infarction is a rare but potentially fatal condition. We present the case of a healthy 29-year-old man who developed a myocardial infarction due to complete occlusion of the proximal right coronary artery following blunt chest trauma. A review of the literature found 63 cases of previously healthy patients under 40 years of age who developed coronary artery occlusion following blunt chest trauma; diagnosis in all cases had been proven by angiography or during autopsy. The presentation, results of electrocardiography and echocardiography and laboratory findings of these patients are described.

Prior blunt chest trauma may be a cause of single vessel coronary disease; hypothesis and review

Prompted by a case where a patient (with no risk factors, and single vessel disease) developed angina pectoris after previous blunt chest trauma, we searched Medline for blunt chest trauma and myocardial ischaemia. We found 77 cases describing AMI after blunt chest trauma, but only one reporting angina pectoris. We focused on the age and sex distribution, type of trauma, the angiography findings and the time interval between the trauma and the angiography. The age distribution was atypical, compared to AMI in general; 82% of the patients with AMI after blunt chest trauma were less than 45 years old, and only 2.5% more than 60 years old. The most common trauma was a road traffic accident, and the LAD was the vessel most often affected. Angiography revealed 12 cases with completely normal vessels, which might be due to spasm or recanalisation; 31 cases showed occlusion but no atherosclerosis, which strongly suggested a causal relation between the trauma and subsequent occlusion. AMI should therefore be considered in patients suffering from chest pain after blunt chest trauma. Because traumatic AMI might often be the result of an intimal tear or dissection, thrombolytic therapy might worsen the situation and acute PCI must be considered preferable. It seems likely that lesser damage could lead to longer-term stenosis we suspect that this sequence is grossly under-reported. This could have medico-legal implications.

Circumflex coronary artery occlusion after blunt chest trauma

A 32-year-old white male police officer suffered blunt trauma to the anterior chest wall during a routine training session. This was accompanied by the precipitous onset of chest discomfort. There was no previous history of any cardiac risk factors. The diagnosis of an inferior wall myocardial infarction was made based on the electrocardiogram findings, at his local community hospital. The total creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, and troponin I were normal. The transesophageal echocardiogram performed at that time demonstrated no aortic or coronary dissection. He was transferred to our tertiary care center. Emergency cardiac catheterization demonstrated lateral wall hypokinesis with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 45% and a total occlusion of the left circumflex coronary artery in its proximal portion. This was successfully recannulized with angioplasty and stenting techniques. We believe this to be only the second reported case of circumflex coronary artery obstruction after blunt chest trauma.