Acute thrombosis of the sinus node artery: arrhythmological implications

A 53 year old woman was referred for percutaneous coronary intervention because of a recent inferior myocardial infarction. During right coronary artery stent implantation, intermittent occlusion of the coronary side branch for the sinus node occurred, associated with intermittent sinus arrest and junctional escape rhythm. This led to speculation about the potential mechanisms for sinus node dysfunction. Degenerative fibrosis of nodal tissue is actually considered the most common cause of bradyarrhythmias. Yet, in everyday practice, no particular attention is usually paid to other potential pathogenic mechanisms such as coronary artery disease. This may be particularly true for elderly patients or patients with multiple risk factors. Thus, sinus node dysfunction may be an unrecognised marker of coronary artery disease.