Abstract
We report a clinical case of a 45-year-old male with a diagnosis of inferior myocardial
infarction and previous history of rheumatic fever during his childhood. Coronary
angiography demonstrated normal coronary arteries. Transthoracic echocardiogram showed
hypokinetic left ventricular inferolateral wall and mitral stenosis; furthermore,
speckle tracking analysis revealed reduction of global longitudinal strain involving
the inferior wall. A three-dimensional transesophaegeal echocardiography, performed
to better characterize the anatomy of the valve and to find possible source of embolic
infarct in an enlarged left atrium, showed rheumatic valvular involvement. Cardiac
magnetic resonance confirmed the ischemic damage and also provided prognostic information.
A multimodality imaging approach should be mandatory in patients with acute myocardial
infarction and normal coronary angiography, to define possible sources of embolic
infarction and to quantify myocardial damage.
Keywords
mitral valve stenosis - rheumatic heart disease - embolic myocardial infarction -
speckle tracking analysis - cardiac magnetic resonance