Severe coronary artery spasm presenting as Prinzmetal's angina following cardiac transplantation

We report the case of a 63-year-old woman who presented with typical angina (crushing chest pain) and recurrent frank syncope two years after her heart transplant. She was observed to have transient ST-elevations on continuous ST-segment monitoring that correlated with her symptoms, and coronary angiography revealed severe and transient spasm of the right coronary artery concurrent with her symptoms and ST-segment changes. The observed spasm completely resolved following administration of intracoronary nitroglycerin in the cardiac cathetherization laboratory. Although rare (occurring in ~5% of patients following cardiac transplantation), coronary artery spasm can occur in post-transplanted hearts and is occasionally diagnosed by coronary angiography.