Myocardial infarction due to tobacco addiction

The patient is an office worker and has smoked e-cigarettes for many years. Before being admitted to the hospital, he suddenly had chest pain behind the sternum with difficulty breathing and sweating.

On November 18, doctors from the Institute of Cardiology – Bach Mai Hospital said that echocardiography results detected reduced lateral wall movement, still preserved heart function, and elevated cardiac enzymes. Patients were also given loading doses of anticoagulants, antiplatelet agents, and statins. However, the patient had complete occlusion from the middle of the right coronary artery, 80-90% narrowing of the proximal and middle segments of the anterior interventricular artery branch due to myocardial infarction. This is the case of a young patient with infarction due to tobacco addiction.

After the consultation, the doctor prescribed a right coronary artery branch stent intervention, followed by intervention in the remaining branch one month later.

Myocardial infarction is a dangerous disease, with a mortality rate of over 70%. The disease can occur suddenly while sleeping, playing or working and tends to get younger. According to the American Heart Association, the incidence of acute myocardial infarction in young patients, under 45 years old, has gradually increased over time, currently accounting for 6-10% of the total number of patients with acute myocardial infarction. It is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in young people worldwide.

Symptoms of myocardial infarction in young people and older people are relatively similar, but in the young group, it is less related to chronic diseases. The main causes are overweight, lack of exercise, stress, tobacco and alcohol abuse. In particular, cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical ingredients, of which hundreds are harmful to health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco smoke is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, respiratory disease, more than 20 cancers and many other diseases.