Pregnancy-associated spontaneous coronary artery dissection: multidisciplinary management, challenges and literature

Nnadozie Igbokwe1, Jess Gomersall2, Sunday Paul Ugwoke2

  • 1Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal Jubilee Maternity Service, Belfast, UK dozzybarry4@gmail.com.

BMJ Case Reports
|December 8, 2021
PubMed

A 30-year-old woman in her second pregnancy, which was complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus. She had an uneventful spontaneous vaginal delivery at 38 weeks+3 days of gestation. Day 1 postpartum, she developed sudden chest pain radiating to her jaw and neck. Her observations were normal, and ECG showed lateral ST elevation in keeping with acute myocardial infarction. The troponin-T level was elevated at 21 ng/L at 0 hour, and >10 000 ng/L at 12 hours, respectively. Coronary angiography confirmed spontaneous dissection of the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) and proximal circumflex coronary arteries. She became unstable during percutaneous coronary intervention and consequently had a successful coronary artery bypass surgery with left saphenous vein grafts to the first obtuse marginal artery and LAD. Echocardiogram revealed moderate to severe impairment of the left ventricular function postoperatively.

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