Coronary plaque instability in severe acute respiratory syndrome.
In his second week of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) illness, a patient developed an unusually complicated course of acute coronary syndrome. One day after initial stabilization of a non-ST-elevated anterior myocardial infarction (MI), he sustained an ST-elevated anterior MI. Eight hours after emergency coronary intervention to the culprit lesion, he developed another ST-elevated MI in the inferior territory. Acute inflammation and cytokine storm in the immunopathological phase of SARS may play a role in coronary plaque instability. Physicians should be alert to this potentially fatal complication and adopt appropriate vigilant and aggressive management strategies.
Tsui
Kin-Lam
KL
Leung
Tat-Chi
TC
Yam
Loretta Yin-Chun
LY
So
Loletta Kit-Ying
LK
Poon
Edwin
E
Lung
Kwok-Cheung
KC
Li
Shu-Kin
SK
D000368:Aged; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D013577:Syndrome