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Case Reports
. 2002 Feb;87(2):E2.
doi: 10.1136/heart.87.2.e2.

Myocardial infarction during adenosine stress test

J E Polad  1 , L M Wilson
Affiliations
Case Reports

Myocardial infarction during adenosine stress test

J E Polad et al. Heart. 2002 Feb.

Abstract

A 65 year old woman with history of ischaemic heart disease underwent standard adenosine stress test for myocardial perfusion imaging. She sustained inferior myocardial infarction during the final stages of the stress test. She was admitted to the coronary care unit and received thrombolytic treatment. The patient made an uneventful recovery. Adenosine is widely used for myocardial stress imaging tests and has a good safety profile. So far there has been only one other reported myocardial infarction during adenosine stress test, which was under special circumstances because three days before the test the patient had undergone percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty when a severe circumferential dissection was noted. The present patient's case highlights the need to be aware of rare but potentially serious complications of adenosine, even though it generally has an excellent safety record for use in myocardial stress testing.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Resting ECG.
Figure 2
Figure 2
ECG after five minutes of adenosine infusion.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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