Stress and disease: the missing link. A vasospastic theory. I. Acute myocardial infarction - a potentially reversible event?

A review of the evidence in acute myocardial infarction indicates that it might well be initiated by coronary artery spasm, and that coronary thrombosis, although important in tipping the balance between severe damage and death of heart muscle, may merely be secondary to the spasm-induced reduction in coronary blood flow.