Case Report
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World J Cardiol. Jun 26, 2014; 6(6): 514-516
Published online Jun 26, 2014. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v6.i6.514
Headache: An unusual presentation of acute myocardial infraction
Dimitrios Asvestas, Konstantinos Vlachos, Anastasios Salachas, Konstantinos P Letsas, Antonios Sideris
Dimitrios Asvestas, Konstantinos Vlachos, Anastasios Salachas, Konstantinos P Letsas, Antonios Sideris, Second Department of Cardiology, Evangelismos General Hospital, 10676 Athens, Greece
Author contributions: Asvestas D reviewed the literature, and helped to draft the manuscript; Vlachos K reviewed the literature, and helped to draft the manuscript; Salachas A performed the coronary angiography; Letsas KP critically revised the manuscript; Sideris A critically revised the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to: Konstantinos P Letsas, MD, FESC, Second Department of Cardiology, Evangelismos General Hospital, Ipsilantou 45-47, 10676 Athens, Greece. k.letsas@mail.gr
Telephone: +30-21-07201466 Fax: +30-21-32041344
Received: December 9, 2013
Revised: April 8, 2014
Accepted: May 13, 2014
Published online: June 26, 2014
Processing time: 199 Days and 10.7 Hours
Abstract

Acute myocardial infarction should be diagnosed as early as possible for the appropriate management to salvage ischemic myocardium. Accurate diagnosis is typically based on the typical symptoms of angina. Headache is an unusual symptom in patients with acute myocardial infraction. We report a patient with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction who presented to the emergency department complaining of severe occipital headache without chest discomfort.

Keywords: Headache; Angina; Myocardial infarction

Core tip: The association of headache with myocardial ischemia is unusual and is accompanied by chest discomfort. The only symptom of this patient was occipital headache and this is extremely rare. Owing to the rare occurrence of headache as a symptom of myocardial ischemia, diagnosis may be extremely difficult since a brain computed tomography imaging is important to rule out the possibility of hemorrhage.