Arteriographic demonstration of coronary artery spasm during thrombolysis.
A 60-year-old man with an acute inferior-wall myocardial infarction was noted, on arteriography, to have an occluded distal right coronary artery. The vessel was reopened with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator; during resolution of the clot, spasm was observed arteriographically but was successfully treated with intracoronary nitroglycerin. Follow-up arteriography showed a normal right coronary artery. The significance of this case lies in the fact that we were able to document the occurrence of spasm during coronary thrombolysis; such documentation supports the hypothesis that spasm may be a factor in the initiation of coronary thrombosis.
Karim
A H
AH
Department of Medicine, Section of Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
Bennett
W
W
Silver
S J
SJ
Kleiman
N S
NS
Goodman
D
D
Heibig
J
J