Radiation-induced coronary obstructive atherosclerosis and sudden death in a teenager

An 18-year-old woman, affected by Hodgkin's disease and treated successfully with radiotherapy, died suddenly. The postmortem study showed an acute septal myocardial infarction in the presence of a severe focal atherosclerotic lesion of the anterior descending coronary artery. This suggests that radiation may contribute to the early development of coronary artery disease.