Intracoronary imaging demonstrating vasculitis as a rare cause of myocardial infarction: a case report

Clicks: 1
ID: 313717
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #222 of 251 articles by views in European Heart Journal - Case Reports

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 251 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Abstract Background Proteinase 3 (PR3)-positive anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, most associated with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA – ‘Wegener’s), is a rare, systemic autoimmune disorder. In this report, we describe an uncommon case of thrombus formation in ANCA vasculitis. Case summary A 20-year-old male with well-controlled type 1 diabetes presented with sudden onset chest pain. The patient had a recent diagnosis of ANCA-associated vasculitis with multisystemic involvement and had completed induction rituximab therapy and pulse of methylprednisolone, before starting moderate dose oral prednisolone and avacopan in the week prior. Electrocardiogram demonstrated inferolateral ST-elevation myocardial infarction; an initial computed tomography aortogram excluded aortic dissection and illustrated mural thickening and luminal irregularity involving the left anterior descending artery. Coronary angiography confirmed distal left circumflex artery occlusion. Given age, stenosis location, vessel size and underlying vasculitis diagnosis, the lesion was prepared with semi-compliant balloon dilatation and then treated with drug-coated balloon angioplasty. Follow-up imaging 4-days later revealed residual left circumflex coronary artery thrombus and vessel wall inflammation, along with inflammation in the left anterior descending artery. Additional intra-vascular imaging at 6-months, showed ongoing intimal thickening. Discussion PR3-positive disease presenting as a myocardial infarction is an exceedingly rare cardiac manifestation of small vessel vasculitis. This case highlights the role of intracoronary imaging in assessing ANCA-associated vasculitis, which has not to our knowledge been previously detailed in literature. Importantly this case underscores the importance of characterising the underlying pathology to treat reversible causes and demonstrates the novel use of using drug coated balloons in such cases.
Reference Key
openalex_W7161025913 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Lauren Shephard, Shanathan Sritharan, Nicolas Zubrzycki, Paul Mansfield, Nicholas Collins, Nicholas Whitehead, Andrew J Boyle, Mohammed Al-Omary
Journal European Heart Journal - Case Reports
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/ehjcr/ytag338
URL
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.