Gemcitabine-induced acute coronary syndrome: a case report

To report a case of metastatic leiomyosarcoma, in which a patient developed chest pain accompanied by acute left bundle-branch block [LBBB] after gemcitabine infusion. Clinical Presentation and Intervention: A 59-year-old woman admitted with bilateral pulmonary nodules had classic risk factors for coronary heart disease and coronary stenosis as demonstrated by previous coronary angiography. She was treated with gemcitabine infusion, and 30 min later she experienced severe chest pain accompanied by acute LBBB confirmed by ECG. We suspected gemcitabine-induced coronary vasospasm exacerbated by the preexisting coronary artery disease as the cause of the acute coronary syndrome. The patient was subsequently treated with antianginal therapy and percutaneous coronary intervention. Her chest pain resolved and LBBB disappeared. She was discharged 2 days later without any further cardiac events. No additional cancer therapy was given and she died 5 months later, due to disease progression. This case showed that chemotherapeutic agents must be administered with intensive cardiac monitoring especially in patients with cardiac disease and well-known risk factors to prevent the development of cardiac complications, despite an agent not being known to be 'cardiotoxic'

Corrected thrombolysis in myocardial infarction frame counts in diabetic patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries

To evaluate corrected thrombolysis in myocardial infarction [TIMI] frame count [CTFC] in patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries and diabetes mellitus, a condition known to be associated with microvascular dysfunction. Patients who underwent coronary angiography in Gazi University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey between January 2000 and January 2005 were studied. Corrected TIMI frame count was calculated over the left anterior descending [LAD], left circumflex [Cx] and right coronary arteries [RCA] in 118 diabetic and 122 non-diabetic patients with normal coronary angiogram. The mean CTFC values of the LAD, Cx, and the RCA were similar in diabetics and nondiabetics 21.0 +/= 7.5 versus 21.3 +/= 9.6, 23.3 +/= 9.7 versus 23.5 +/= 10.8, 17.9 +/= 6.7 versus 18.7 +/=7.4 respectively, p>0.05 for all comparisons. In stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis, body surface area had a significant correlation with CTFC of all the 3 coronary arteries. We conclude that CTFC in diabetics and non-diabetics with angiographically normal coronary arteries is similar. Since microvascular disease is an inherent component of diabetes, our finding may reflect the inadequacy of CTFC in predicting microvascular disease in diabetic patients with normal coronary angiograms