[Silent myocardial infarct as a main manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus]

Myocardial infarction has rarely been reported in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus but may develop late in the disease usually as a result of severe and accelerated atherosclerosis or coronary arteritis. A 32-year-old man with untreated and unrecognized systemic lupus erythematosus, in the absence of conventional coronary risk factors (except family predisposition) and definite extracardiac manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus had a silent myocardial infarction early in the course of the disease. A coronary arteriogram revealed multiple stenosis of the left anterior descending artery and critical stenosis of the right coronary artery. It is our belief that lupus vasculitis is a likely contributing factor in the development of obstructive coronary disease in this patient.