A case of right coronary artery occlusion, caused by blunt chest trauma and treated with acute coronary artery bypass surgery.

Abstract

A 37-year-old man sustained occlusion of the right coronary artery after a bicycle accident with blunt chest trauma over the left scapula. Acute coronary angiography was performed because of chest pain and ST-segment elevation. Despite surgically successful acute revascularization the patient developed a transmural inferior wall infarction. Coronary artery occlusion after blunt chest trauma is rare, especially occlusion of the right coronary artery. When it occurs, the impact is usually frontal (car accidents), and not dorsal as in this case. Coronary artery bypass surgery has been reported in a few cases but to the best of our knowledge this is the first report of bypass surgery at the stage of acute transmural ischaemia.