Autopsy findings of the coronary arteries of variant angina with Raynaud's phenomenon of the tongue.

A 42 year old man with variant angina occasionally associated with syncopal attacks died of acute myocardial infarction 17 months after the onset of angina. Prior to the onset of variant angina, he had Raynaud's phenomenon of the tongue for 2 years. Both Valsalva maneuver and hyperventilation could repeatedly provoke chest pain and ST segment elevation in leads II, III and aVF. The infusion of prostaglandin E1 at a rate of 0.05 microgram/kg/min, was able to prevent the attack of variant angina induced by these maneuvers. Although coronary angiography performed 15 months prior to death revealed no organic lesions except for complete spastic occlusion at segment 1 following intravenous ergonovine, autopsy revealed marked intimal proliferation and accumulation of abundant glycosaminoglycans in three coronary vessels, as well as in small and muscular arteries of other organs. This suggests that a rapid systemic progression of narrowing due to proliferation of the intima might occur in some cases of variant angina.