CORONARY-ARTERY SPASM DEMONSTRATED BY CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY IN A PATIENT WITH ACUTE MYOCARDITIS RESEMBLING ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION - A CASE-REPORT

A 59-year-old male with acute myocarditis presenting symptoms resembling acute myocardial infarction underwent urgent coronary angiography due to difficulties in determining a diagnosis. Coronary artery spasm was demonstrated in the proximal right and left anterior descending coronary arteries. The spasm varied from time to time and lesion to lesion. But no fixed occluded lesion was observed. Predischarge coronary angiography showed no abnormal findings. Histological findings of the biopsy specimen from the left ventricle were consistent with myocarditis. The findings of this case indicate that a coronary artery spasm may aggravate the myocardial damage occurring in acute myocarditis. Urgent coronary angiography and endomyocardial biopsy are important to make the diagnosis of myocarditis in patients presenting symptoms resembling acute myocardial infarction.