Acute severe coronary spasm associated with initial first dose of 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy.

Among the various pathophysiologic mechanisms proposed to explain the 5-fluorouracil cardiotoxicity, coronary vasospasm, occurring most frequently after the completion of the second or third dose of the cycle, has gained wide acceptance. We describe what to our knowledge is the first observation of typical Prinzmetal variant angina occurring very early after having started a 5-fluorouracil infusion administered as a chemotherapy regimen to a 66-year-old man with an adenocarcinoma of the right colon.