CASE REPORTS   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2011 June;170(3):193-6

Copyright © 2011 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Coronary artery disease and Leriche’s syndrome

Dattilo G. ¹, Lamari A. ², Scarano M. ¹, Imbalzano E. ², Busacca P. ¹

¹ Unità Operativa di UTIC e Cardiologia, Presidio Ospedaliero di Urbino, Asur2 Marche, Urbino, Pesaro-Urbino, Italia 2 Dipartimento Clinico Sperimentale di Medicina e Farmacologia, Università di Messina, Messina, Italia

Leriche’s syndrome (LS) is rare among the elderly who usually have a diffuse atherosclerosis with predominantly distal arterial occlusion and associated with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. Leriche’s syndrome is characterized by easy tiredness of the buttocks and thighs to hip claudication and impotentia erigendi secondary to aortic-iliac artery occlusion in the presence of distal vessels normally patent. This case report presents the case of a 59-year old male patient hospitalized for elective cholecystecomy, during the cardiological preoperative visit careful anamnestic investigation justified the continuation of instrumental tests and blood tests for cardiovascular risk stratification, which allowed to detect the occlusion of the abdominal aorta and a coronary artery which could have caused an acute myocardial infarction if the patient had been subjected to mental and physical stress such as surgery. This case report highlights the subtle progressive evolution of Leriche’s syndrome and how an accurate anamnestic investigation with clinical-instrumental study is highly important in patients with a high cardiovascular risk.