Catheter-induced Multiple Non-proximal Coronary Spasm in a Patient Presenting with Myocardial Infarction

Interventional cardiologists encounter a wide range of lesions that cannot be angiographically distinguished from fixed atherosclerotic obstructive disease. In this case report, we document vasospasm at multiple sites in the coronary territory in a patient presenting with acute coronary syndrome. A 61-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with typical chest pain lasting approximately 1 h. After performing the left coronary artery angiography, a severe tubular stenosis was detected in circumflex (Cx) artery. Diffuse spasm was observed in the right coronary artery (RCA) and it resolved after intracoronary administration of nitroglycerin. After performing left system angiography again, severe stenosis in Cx artery was also completely resolved. Our finding is of clinical importance in that it is more likely to simulate a constant coronary stenosis than would have spasm occurred proximally. The clinical importance of our report is that a catheter-induced vasospasm (CIV) may simulate fixed coronary stenosis, not always osteally and in some instances at multiple sites. Awareness of this phenomenon and liberal use of nitroglycerin in any patient with discrete luminal narrowing, even when an ostial “lesion” is not present, can help to avoid misinterpreting CIV as an atherosclerotic lesion.