title: Myocardial infarction in a patient with beta-thalassemia major: first report.
abstract: Thalassemia is the most common hereditary anemia throughout the world. Survival in its most severe long-term form, beta-thalassemia major, has significantly risen in the last decades. Cardiac morbidity-heart failure and dysrhythmias-is still the most common cause of mortality in these patients. We describe herein a case of myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries in a 48-year-old patient with beta-thalassemia and no other recognized risk factors for coronary artery disease. Thromboembolic phenomena, a known situation in these patients, occur at a frequency of 4-5%. However, as far as we know, this is the first report in the literature of myocardial infarction in association with beta-thalassemia. With the notable improvement in the life expectancy of thalassemia patients, ischemic heart disease may become an important complication encountered in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital and the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. zvi_f@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Zvi G
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Fridlender
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rund
mesh_terms: D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000150:complications*