Acute myocardial infarction in a young man with dilated cardiomyopathy: clinicopathological correlation.

Cardiac involvement is commonly described in autopsy examinations of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, only a small percentage have clinically significant cardiac disease. Dilated cardiomyopathy is one of the most common HIV-related heart diseases. Cardiovascular complications of HIV infection are likely to become more common with improvements in treatment and survival. Coronary thromboembolism has rarely been reported in the setting of dilated cardiomyopathy. Coronary thromboembolism should be suspected in a patient presenting with acute myocardial infarction, normal coronary arteries at subsequent angiography and a potential source of embolus. A patient presenting with acute myocardial infarction subsequently diagnosed as a coronary artery embolism due to HIV cardiomyopathy is reported. Coronary artery embolism and HIV cardiomyopathy are briefly discussed.