Myocardial Infarction with Unusual Manifestations of Abdominal Tenderness and Colic Pain and Initial Normal Electrocardiography: A Case Report

Abstract

Unusual chest pain is often observed in older women with diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Some unusual manifestations of myocardial infarction have so far been reported, including earache, flank pain, fatigue, neck pain, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, and shoulder pain. In this article, we report a case of rare symptoms of cardiovascular disease with referral symptoms, including abdominal colic pain. The patient was a 55-year-old man with a history of diabetes under treatment with insulin who had abdominal colic pain, periodic epigastric tenderness, and frequent nausea and vomiting for 2 days. At first, he was suspected of pancreatitis, but considering that his amylase and lipase enzymes were normal and no evidence of the existence of free abdominal and pelvic fluid was observed according to ultrasound results, the hypothesis of pancreatitis was rejected. Despite the normality of the initial ECG until the night before the visit by the cardiologist, the patient experienced more severe pain and, as a result, was referred to the cardiac internal ward until the end of the same night, after angiography, it was found that the obtuse marginal (OM1) branch of coronary arteries had severe narrowing (90-99%). Abdominal tenderness and colic pain are among the unusual manifestations of myocardial infarction. In patients with cardiac risk factors, such as diabetes and chronic kidney disease, despite the existence of a normal ECG, uncommon manifestations should be checked.

Keywords

• myocardial infarction
• chest pain
• colic