Myocardial infarction resulting from nonatherosclerotic coronary artery diseases

Myocardial infarction (MI) infrequently results from nonatherosclerotic coronary diseases such as coronary embolism, spasm, dissection, and arteritis. If these disorders are not considered in the differential diagnosis of MI, specific beneficial therapies would be overlooked. Because physicians see large number of patients with MI during their career, the likelihood that they will encounter patients with MI resulting from nonatherosclerotic diseases is high. Two cases are presented to highlight different etiologies and treatment approaches of nonatherosclerotic MI.