Intravascular ultrasound assessment of spontaneous coronary artery dissection

Abstract

Spontaneous coronary dissections are rare. A review of published reports shows that most (69%) of the cases are diagnosed postmortem. 1 Jorgensen M.B Aharonian V Mansukhani P Mahrer P.R Spontaneous coronary dissection a cluster of cases with this rare finding. Am Heart J. 1994; 127: 1382-1387 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (207) Google Scholar , 2 Thayer J.O Healy R.W Maggs P.R Spontaneous coronary artery dissection. Ann Thorac Surg. 1987; 44: 97-102 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (158) Google Scholar Jorgensen et al 1 Jorgensen M.B Aharonian V Mansukhani P Mahrer P.R Spontaneous coronary dissection a cluster of cases with this rare finding. Am Heart J. 1994; 127: 1382-1387 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (207) Google Scholar reported that spontaneous dissections occur in only 0.1% (10 of 9,852) of all angiographic studies, whereas Nishikawa et al 3 Nishikawa H Nakanishi S Nishiyama S Nishimura S Seki A Yamaguchi H Primary coronary artery dissection observed at coronary angiography. Am J Cardiol. 1988; 61: 645-648 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (58) Google Scholar reported a frequency of only 0.28% (4 of 1,445) in patients with myocardial infarction undergoing angiography. We report 5 patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissections diagnosed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). None had angiographic dissections, and most dissections appeared as modest angiographic stenoses without any other specific morphologic findings.