title: Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty as a cause of isolated right ventricular infarction.
abstract: Acute myocardial infarction is a recognized major complication of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Isolated right ventricular infarction is rare. A 60-year-old patient underwent PTCA 24 h following clinically successful thrombolytic therapy for an acute occlusion of a dominant right coronary artery. Following successful PTCA of this artery, a right ventricular branch was noted to be occluded. This was associated with chest pain, elevated venous pressure, S-T segment elevation in ECG leads V1-3, and a transient rise in serum creatine kinase. The clinical course was uneventful and a week later the right ventricular ejection fraction had increased from 18 to 36%. The long-term effects of right ventricular infarction are benign and occlusion of a right ventricular branch during PTCA is rarely of clinical significance.
mesh_terms: D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000209:etiology*