Pulmonary artery dilatation: an overlooked mechanism for angina pectoris.

Dilatation of the pulmonary artery may lead to the compression of adjacent structures. Of those, the extrinsic compression of the left main coronary artery is the most worrisome. We present the case of a 48-year-old woman who was diagnosed with pulmonary artery dilatation due to severe, thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. She also had angina and coronary angiography revealed a 70% ostial stenosis of the left main coronary artery. The presence of this isolated lesion in a young woman without risk factors for atherosclerosis suggests extrinsic compression of the left main coronary artery by the dilated pulmonary artery as the likely mechanism. The patient underwent direct stenting of the left main coronary stenosis with a good result. J Cardiovasc Med 9:747–750 Q 2008 Italian Federation of Cardiology.