Fatal vasculitis (periarteritis nodosa) of the coronary arteries: angiographic ambiguities and absence of aneurysms at autopsy.

A 30 year old man died during coronary artery bypass grafting for presumed premature atherosclerotic coronary disease. Autopsy revealed vasculitis with characteristics of periarteritis nodosa of the coronary arteries with severe luminal narrowing, but without aneurysms. This is the first report of a patient with these findings studied angiographically and at autopsy.