A sixty-seven-year-old gentleman, with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, stable angina, and hypertension was admitted to the hospital with several episodes of chest pain. An electrocardiogram revealed ST-T changes in the anterior wall. A coronary angiography followed by an angioplasty resulted in placement of 2 stents for critical lesions on the left anterior descendent artery. Within minutes, the patient became hypotensive with signs of hypoperfusion. Bedside echocardiography revealed cardiac tamponade. An emergency pericardial drainage was placed, and the patient taken to the cardiac catheterization laboratory where a repeat angiogram revealed a right coronary artery perforation as well as a small distal branch of the posterior descendent artery.
Ricardo de Jesús Avendaño-Garnica, Santiago Herrero, Joseph Varon
