Post-valvular surgery multi-vessel coronary artery spasm - A literature review

Francesco Formica; Oluwaseun Adebayo Bamodu; Serena Mariani; Giovanni Paolini

doi:10.1016/j.ijcha.2015.10.010

Post-valvular surgery multi-vessel coronary artery spasm - A literature review

Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc. 2015 Oct 30:10:32-38. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2015.10.010. eCollection 2016 Mar.

Authors

Francesco Formica^{1

2}, Oluwaseun Adebayo Bamodu^{3

4

2}, Serena Mariani¹, Giovanni Paolini^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Cardiac Surgery Unit, San Gerardo Hospital, Department of Medicine and Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
² The Masters Level II Program in Cardiac Surgery, Cardiac Anesthesia and Cardiology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
³ Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Medical Research & Education, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Abstract

Coronary artery spasm (CAS) refers to the spontaneous or stimuli-induced transient, often localized and intense subtotal or total constriction/occlusion of the epicardial coronary artery, usually concomitant with angina pectoris with associated elevation of the ST segment on electrocardiogram (ECG). In this article, we present a literature review on post-valvular surgery CAS and report the clinical case of a 77 year-old man who experienced severe early post-aortic surgery chest pain and hemodynamic instability. Emergent coronary angiography revealed severe occlusion of multiple branches of both coronary arteries. The CAS was alleviated with intracoronary infusion of nitroglycerin.

Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; Aortic operation; Coronary artery disease; Vascular tone and reactivity.

Publication types

Review