Coronary artery Myointimal dysplasia in patients with Pheochromocytoma – possible causal relationship: pathophysiology and clinical implication with reference to Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and spontaneous coronary dissection

Myocardial damage in catecholamine cardiomyopathy, characterized by patchy myocyte necrosis commonly with contraction band appearances, interstitial fibrosis and varying degrees of inflammatory infiltrates has been well documented. However, coronary vascular pathology has not been recognized. Autopsy of a 43-year-old housewife, died of acute apical anteroseptal myocardial infarction, revealed the incidental finding of a left adrenal pheochromocytoma. The epicardial and intramyocardial median and small size coronary arteries exhibited myointimal dysplasia in the form of fibroblastic proliferation in the intima and media, resulting in thickened dysplastic vessels with marked luminal narrowing, occasionally leading to near total occlusion.
Source: Cardiovascular Pathology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research