Death from spontaneous coronary artery dissection in a healthy postmenopausal woman.
Spontaneous dissection of the coronary arteries, in the absence of trauma, is an unusual but well-documented entity that occurs usually in middle-aged women. It is a rare cause of sudden death and myocardial infarction. Coronary eosinophilic arteritis is suggested to result in a predisposition to intimal disruption and dissection. We present the case of the sudden death of a previous healthy, 53-year-old postmenopausal female, while working, in a town of Thessalia in Greece. The cause of death was left anterior descending coronary dissection with histologic findings of eosinophilic arteritis and autoimmune thyroiditis.
Zagelidou
Helen
H
Forensic Department of Larissa, Ministry of Justice, Larissa, Greece. elzagg@yahoo.gr
Leodari
Roubini
R
Roupa
Zoi
Z
Maras
Dimitrios
D
Sapountzi-Krepia
Despina
D
Terzis
Anastasios
A
D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000150:complications*; D001167:Arteritis / Q000473:pathology; D003323:Coronary Aneurysm / Q000150:complications*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000473:pathology