Stroke and myocardial infarction: a terrible association.

In the USA coronary heart diseases and cerebral vascular accidents together are the major causes of death regardless of race or sex. More specifically, the acute myocardial infarction and the encephalic vascular accident, as final events of atherosclerosis, correspond to a large part of death cases. Such cases could be potentially prevented with a proper follow-up and the identification of the risk factors. We present a case of a 65-year-old black man, diabetic and hypertensive, with ischaemic stroke diagnosis that progressed to acute ST elevation myocardial infarction. Thrombolysis or platelets antiaggregation were not possible due to the fact that the patient was in the acute phase of his ischaemic stroke. This case shows the association of the two major causes of death in this country, stroke and myocardial infarction, and the challenge for their treatment.