Do not put money where your mouth is!

Am J Med Sci. 2010 Jan;339(1):89-91. doi: 10.1097/MAJ.0b013e3181bb41c8.

Abstract

A 60-year-old woman presented with repolarization disorders on the electrocardiogram after a generalized seizure, which immediately disappeared after vomiting up a 20-eurocent coin. We did not find any evidence of coronary artery disease. Multislice computed tomography demonstrated no coronary atherosclerotic stenosis but a close relationship of the esophagus with the coronary arteries. This relation was further studied in detail in a human cadaver. From our findings, it is most likely that the electrocardiogram alterations were due to compression of the ramus descendens posterior of the right coronary artery and/or the ramus circumflexus of the left coronary artery by the coin.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Coronary Angiography
  • Electrocardiography
  • Esophagus / diagnostic imaging
  • Female
  • Foreign Bodies / complications*
  • Foreign Bodies / diagnosis*
  • Foreign Bodies / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Mouth*
  • Seizures / diagnosis
  • Seizures / etiology
  • Seizures / physiopathology