title: Allergic acute coronary syndrome (Kounis syndrome).
abstract: Anaphylaxis rarely manifests as a vasospastic acute coronary syndrome with or without the presence of underlying coronary artery disease. The variability in the underlying pathogenesis produces a wide clinical spectrum of this syndrome. We present three cases of anaphylactic acute coronary syndrome that display different clinical variants of this phenomenon. The main pathophysiological mechanism of the allergic anginal syndromes is the inflammatory mediators released during a hypersensitivity reaction triggered by food, insect bites, or drugs. It is important to appropriately recognize and treat Kounis syndrome in patients with exposure to a documented allergen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hartford Hospital, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Sarfaraz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Memon
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hartford Hospital, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Lovely
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chhabra
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hartford Hospital, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Shihab
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masrur
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hartford Hospital, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Parker