CASE REPORT article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
Myocardial Infarction Combining with Systemic Sclerosis
Provisionally accepted
- First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
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Myocardial infarction (MI) is a serious cardiovascular emergency that causes myocardial necrosis due to acute occlusion or spasm of a coronary artery leading to persistent ischemia and hypoxia; it is the major cause of death in patients with cardiovascular diseases worldwide. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare immune-mediated rheumatic disease characterized by fibrosis of skin and internal organs and vascular lesions. Although the survival in SSc has been improved in the past decades, the mortality rate remains high. Here, we report a case of myocardial infarction combined with SSc and document the diagnostic and treatment process. A 55-year-old male who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) because of acute inferior MI but the downtrend of cardiac troponin I (cTnI )was absent after operation. One month later, the patient was readmitted for treatment due to residual vascular lesions, and serum cTnI remained persistently high. After a thorough examination and histopathologic biopsy, the patient was ultimately diagnosed with a combination of SSc. Electrocardiograph, medical images, cardiac enzymes, and histopathological changes, as well as coronary angiographic findings revealed the severity and complexity of patient's condition. Three months after the second discharge, the follow-up data showed that the patient's condition improved significantly. This case may provide a novel perspective on the diagnosis and clinical management of these rare comorbidity.
Keywords: Cardiac troponin I, Multiple organ involvement, Myocardial Infarction, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, systemic sclerosis heart involvement, systemicsclerosis
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 19 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhang, Li, Niu and Bai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ming Bai
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