Atypical myocardial infarction on a cruise ship

Abstract

A previously asymptomatic 44-year-old male crewmember on a cruise ship experienced several brief episodes of acute chest pain within a short time frame. He was ultimately diagnosed with myocardial infarction; 5 h earlier he had been discharged from the ship’s medical centre after almost 8 h of monitoring to rule-out infarction. Subsequent angiography ashore revealed a 99% occlusion of the right coronary artery. This case highlights the dangers of over-reliance on shipboard cardiac enzyme testing to clear a patient with chest pain.