Myocardial Infarction in a Patient with β-Thalassemia Major: First Report

Thalassemia is the most common hereditary anemia throughout the world. Survival in its most severe long-term form, β-thalassemia major, has significantly risen in the last decades. Cardiac morbidity-heart failure and dysrhythmias-is still the most common cause of mortality in these patients. We describe herein a case of myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries in a 48-year-old patient with β-thalassemia and no other recognized risk factors for coronary artery disease. Thromboembolic phenomena, a known situation in these patients, occur at a frequency of 4-5%. However, as far as we know, this is the first report in the literature of myocardial infarction in association with β-thalassemia. With the notable improvement in the life expectancy of thalassemia patients, ischemic heart disease may become an important complication encountered in these patients.