Carcinoma embolization in coronary artery causing myocardial infarction: diagnosis from coronary thromboaspirate.

A unique case of myocardial infarction due to coronary artery tumor embolism from colonic adenocarcinoma is described. A 79-year-old man with a history of rectal carcinoma with lung metastases 15 years and 9 years before, respectively, was subjected to primary percutaneous coronary intervention for myocardial infarction with aspiration of a thrombus from the occluded artery. The retrieved material contained fragments of adenocarcinoma tissue. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of adenocarcinoma coronary embolism diagnosed during life from coronary artery aspirate.