Acute myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries in a case of polyarteritis nodosa: possible role of coronary artery spasm

A 20 year old man with no previous history of heart disease presented with acute left ventricular failure following extensive anterior wall myocardial infarction. Selective angiography revealed multiple aneurysms in the renal, mesenteric and hepatic arteries with an infarct in the lower pole of the right kidney. These findings, along with the presence of circulating hepatitis B surface antigen favoured the diagnosis of polyarteritis nodosa. In view of normal coronary angiogram and absence of myocardial vasculitis, coronary vasospasm was implicated as the cause of myocardial infarction. Such an occurrence, which could have different therapeutic and diagnostic implications, has not, to our knowledge, been previously described in polyarteritis nodosa.