Fatal nonatherosclerotic myocardial infarction in a young man with allergic bronchial asthma.

A 34-year-old man with allergic asthma died an (instantaneous) sudden cardiac death as a result of multiple myocardial infarcts. These occurred in the absence of coronary atherosclerosis. The major mechanism by which the infarcts occurred was recurrent coronary artery spasm. The latter can occur spontaneously, asthma patients being particularly prone to it. However, various medications prescribed by different physicians may also have played a role.