Spontaneous coronary artery dissection: how often do we miss this diagnosis? The role of cardiac computed tomography angiography

Abstract

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an important cause of acute coronary syndrome particularly among young women. Although coronary angiogram (CAG) is the gold standard exam for the diagnosis, SCAD may be missed by CAG alone. Our case series illustrates the adjunctive role of cardiac computed tomography angiography (cCTA) to CAG in ascertaining the diagnosis of SCAD. Three young women were admitted with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. CAG showed no significant coronary artery stenosis. In two patients, cCTA performed after CAG revealed an intramural hematoma compressing the coronary lumen. In one patient, SCAD was initially misdiagnosed as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and cCTA performed 1 month later allowed to make the correct diagnosis of SCAD assessing the spontaneous healing of the dissected vessel.