Traumatic myocardial infarction in a young athletic patient after a football game.

Myocardial injury from blunt chest trauma can result from either direct contusion or coronary artery injury due to acute coronary syndrome or coronary dissection. Although rare, blunt chest trauma is one of the non-atherosclerotic mechanisms leading to acute myocardial infarction (MI) in patients younger than 45 years. We are reporting a case of a 36-year-old athletic man who presented with infero-lateral ST elevation MI secondary to a thrombotic occlusion of right coronary artery after a blunt chest trauma. Early recognition of myocardial infarction in patients presenting with chest trauma and differentiating it from other causes of chest pain in this setting is critical in guiding the diagnosis and management of this rare, but potentially fatal complication.