"Munchausen" Coronary Artery Disease

Talking about death -‘I can … ’

“…Among the many manifestations of Munchausen syndrome, the cardiac type (cardiopathia fantastica) (4) is the most important. Chest pain is the most frequent presentation in cardiac Munchausen syndrome (5)(6)(7)(8)(9). In this era of extreme consciousness of chest pain as a manifestation of myocardial ischemia due to coronary artery disease, the diagnosis of the cardiac Munchausen syndrome is often missed, even after unneccessary, expensive, invasive and sometimes risky diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures including percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (5), and even coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (6) have been performed, oftentimes repeatedly, on these patients.…”

Do inherited prothrombotic factors have a role in myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteriogram?

“…The most common presentation of cardiopathia fantastica, as in the cases reported by Harvey & Johnston [1], is simulated acute myocardial infarc-tion or unstable angina, the so-called 'Munchausen' coronary artery disease [7] with or without factitious complications such as congestive heart failure, dysrhythmias and cardiac arrest [8]. These patients are often admitted directly from the emergency room to the coronary care unit and are often subjected to complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.…”

Munchausen syndrome revisited

“…Among the many manifestations of Munchausen syndrome, the cardiac type (cardiopathia fantastica) (4) is the most important. Chest pain is the most frequent presentation in cardiac Munchausen syndrome (5–9). In this era of extreme consciousness of chest pain as a manifestation of myocardial ischemia due to coronary artery disease, the diagnosis of the cardiac Munchausen syndrome is often missed, even after unneccessary, expensive, invasive and sometimes risky diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures including percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (5), and even coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (6) have been performed, oftentimes repeatedly, on these patients.…”