The blue man: an unusual happy end of a spontaneous rupture of a coronary artery.
We report the case of spontaneous rupture of a coronary artery. It was that of a 56-year-old man admitted for dyspnoea and anterior thoracic pain. The most striking feature on physical examination was the marked cyanosis of his face, upper part of the thorax and the upper limb. The patient was haemodynamically unstable with tachycardia and hypotension. Cardiac tamponade was confirmed by echocardiography and computed tomography of the thorax. The patient was transferred for surgery. Emergency sternotomy revealed pericardial bloody effusion and a continuous bleeding around the posterior interventricular artery. No other perioperative findings could explain the haemopericardium. Haemostasis was obtained by a suture of the bleeding coronary artery.
Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Sart Tilman, B-4000 LIEGE, Belgium.
Marie L
ML
Moonen
Michel
M
Hanssen
Marc A
MA
Radermecker
Patrizio
P
Lancellotti
D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D003490:Cyanosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D004630:Emergencies; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D013537:Sutures; D013909:Thorax