Acute myocardial infarction in a young patient

Myocardial infarction (MI) is considered to be the disease of the fifth and sixth decade as seen in the West but an earlier age incidence is not infrequently encountered in the South Asian population. However, occurrence of MI in the teen-age still remains a rare happening. We are reporting a case of a teenager, who suffered a myocardial infarction with cardiogenic shock and pulmonary edema on two separate occasions with ECG and biochemical evidence of myocardial infarction. An exercise stress test done in between the two episodes was negative at a workload of 13.5 METs. A coronary angiogram done after the second event revealed normal coronary arteries and a preserved left ventricular systolic and segmental function. Except for low HDL (high density lipoprotein) and mildly raised homocysteine levels, the patient did not have other conventional or novel risk factors for coronary artery disease.