Cocaine and Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Probable Connection

Six young cocaine users, median age 35.5 years (range 27 to 44 years) experienced acute myocardial infarction. The close temporal correlation in two cases between cocaine use and clinical infarction and the relative paucity of atherosclerotic blockage of the coronary arteries in the others, as demonstrated by autopsy or angiography, suggest that cocaine, either by a mechanism of coronary artery spasm or by increased myocardial oxygen demand consequent to hypertension and tachycardia, is implicated in the precipitation of these infarctions.