title: Arteriographic demonstration of coronary artery spasm during thrombolysis.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Section of Cardiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Silver
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Kleiman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heibig