Myocardial infarction and oral contraceptive agents

Abstract Three young premenopausal women, aged 27, 29 and 35 years, with acute myocardial infarction in the absence of significant predisposing causes are presented. All 3 patients were taking oral contraceptive agents at the time of infarction. Selective coronary arteriograms showed an isolated segmental occlusion in all cases with no other arterial disease. Although these events must be considered rare, oral contraceptive agents may be a possible contributing factor in myocardial infarction by a mechanism of thrombosis. The role of estrogens in myocardial infarction and atherosclerosis is reviewed. The implication of these cases for increased incidence of thromboembolic disorders in clinical trials of estrogen in atherosclerotic disease is discussed.