[Lesions of coronary atherosclerosis in drug users. Preliminary studies]

A study of hearts removed during medicolegal autopsy of drug addicts after their sudden death demonstrated the constant presence of coronary lesions very similar to common atherosclerosis but remarkable by their magnitude, especially in patients dying at an age when atheromatous disease is relatively rare. Coronary circulation was studied in 10 cases by histoenzymatic, immunologic, histologic and ultrastructural examination of fresh and fixed tissues. The parietal thickening, noted in all cases to variable degrees, had provoked stenosis in several cases, preferentially in the proximal portion of the anterior interventricular vessel. On light and ultrastructural microscopy, the lesions observed were similar to atherosclerotic lesions, but differed in several respects and notably the absence of antiglobulin and the lack of increase of glycosaminoglycans. Although the relations between the drug and atheroma are undeniable, their mechanism is at present unknown.