Complement inhibition to treat myocardial infarction?

Abstract

The authors describe the case of a middle-aged women who presented with an acute myocardial infarction due to thrombotic occlusion of angiographically normal coronary arteries. Coronary thrombosis was caused by a hypercoagulable state related to a haemolytic crisis of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria and the patient was treated conservatively with antithrombotic agents. The clinical course was complicated by both severe bleeding and thrombotic complications and the patient eventually died of a massive intracerebral haemorrhage. The rapid occurrence of complications inhibited a timely administration of a specific treatment for complement-mediated haemolysis (eculizumab).

• Authors: Bernhard Gerber, Tatiana Kyburz, Walter H Reinhart, Piero O Bonetti, Georg Stussi
• Journal: BMJ case reports (BMJ Case Rep) Vol. 2011 (Apr 26 2011) ISSN: 1757-790X [Electronic] England
• PMID: 22696664 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
• Complement Inactivating Agents
• eculizumab

Topics

• Aged
• Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized (therapeutic use)
• Complement Inactivating Agents (therapeutic use)
• Coronary Angiography
• Echocardiography
• Fatal Outcome
• Female
• Hemoglobinuria, Paroxysmal (complications, drug therapy)
• Humans
• Myocardial Infarction (diagnosis, etiology)