Like mother like son

A 68-year-old female with history of anterior wall myocardial infarction (MI) 20 years earlier, underwent coronary angiography after having a non ST elevation MI. Before the procedure, the patient and her close family, including her husband and 2 sons were given thorough explanation of the procedure, its risks and benefits. A totally occluded mid LAD with collaterals from the RCA was found. Besides this presumably 20-year-old chronic total occlusion of the LAD, no other significant lesions were detected, hence medical therapy was recommended. Twelve hours after this diagnostic angiography, the same team was called urgently to perform primary PCI on a 41-year-old male, who presented to the emergency department within 4 h from onset of chest pain and signs of anterior wall ST elevation MI. The treating team immediately recognized the patient as the son of the lady who underwent angiography just several hours ago. This time the explanations about the procedure were concise. Angiography revealed an acute total occlusion of the mid LAD, which was successfully treated. The location of the blockage in mid LAD, just distal to the 1st diagonal and a large septal artery, was closely the same in the mother and in the son. Genetic predisposition and emotional stress are linked together in the present presentation. The proximity of time may be attributed to emotional stress while the proximity in location of the culprit lesions in these two cases may have genetic factors. To our knowledge, this is the first description of an acute MI in a sibling with a coronary artery occlusion in the exact anatomy as of the mother, occurring just several hours after the motherʹs coronary angiography.