Silent cardiac ischemia in cervical spinal cord injury: case study.

Abstract

The management of ischemic heart disease in patients with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) will become an increasingly major concern as this population ages. Although silent ischemia has become an important topic in the medical literature, the relationship with cervical SCI has not been adequately explored. A literature search revealed no case reports of documented asymptomatic cardiac ischemia in SCI patients. This is a case report of a 65-year-old patient with chronic C7 incomplete SCI who had multiple risk factors for coronary artery disease and an abnormal electrocardiogram. Despite being completely asymptomatic, the patient was found to have significant myocardial ischemia induced by minimal stress using atrial paced thallium scintigraphy. This finding led to the cancellation of an elective surgical procedure. This case illustrates the importance of suspecting silent myocardial ischemia in cervical SCI patients.