title: Thrombotic occlusion of all left coronary branches in a young woman with severe ulcerative colitis.
abstract: Background. The thrombosis risk is increased in active ulcerative colitis. The limited number of reported complications have predominantly been cerebrovascular but other vessel territories may also be affected. Patient. During a severe attack of ulcerative colitis a 37-year-old woman suffered occlusion of all left coronary artery branches. Serial angiographies showed progressive recanalisation of the coronary arteries during anticoagulation, but no atherosclerotic stenosis. The cause of infarction was thus considered to be an extensive coronary thrombosis. However, a large battery of blood tests failed to identify any procoagulant abnormality. Conclusion. Evidence is now accumulating that the increased thrombosis risk also may involve the coronary arteries, even in young patients. To the best of our knowledge this is the third reported case of myocardial infarction despite angiographically normal coronary arteries in a patient with active ulcerative colitis. The extent of affected myocardium was in this case exceptionally large.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Skane University Hospital Malmoe, 20502 Malmoe, Sweden.
authors.forename: Carl Gunnar
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Gustavsson
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hertervig
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sandhall
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hårdhammar
authors.forename: Natascia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malcevschi-Lind
authors.forename: Sven-Erik
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Olsson