Coronary arteritis and aortoarteritis in the elderly males. A report of two autopsy cases with review of the literature.

Two elderly males died suddenly of acute myocardial infarction. Autopsy disclosed extensive and severe coronary arteritis, associated with aortitis. In most of all of the epicardial coronary arteries, fibrous thickening of the adventitia was remarkable and muscle layers of the media were nearly destroyed by infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells. The aorta showed adventitial thickening with destruction of the elastic layers of the outer media. In the literature, similar extensive coronary arteritis has been reported in five cases of Takayasu's arteritis. All cases, including ours, were elderly or middle-aged males who died suddenly of myocardial infarction without the antemortem detection of the underlying arteritis. These aspects differ from the typical Takayasu's arteritis and we suggest that these cases are considered as a separate entity.