A CASE OF 5-FLUOROURACIL CARDIOTOXICITY SIMULATING ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used in the treatment of various solid tumors. However, 5-FU cardiotoxicity is being reported with increasin g frequency. The main symptom of cardiotoxicity is chest pain at rest with ischemic electrocardiographic changes. Up until now, the underlyi ng mechanism has been suspected to be coronary artery spasm. However, this chest pain associated with 5-FU has several characteristics that are incompatible with coronary artery spasm; eg, inefficacy of calcium -channel blocker and a slow increase in cardiac enzyme levels. We expe rienced a case of 5-FU-induced cardiotoxicity which showed clinical fi ndings consistent with acute myocardial infarction. Based on the clini cal findings, coronary angiography, and left ventricular angiography i n a prolonged attack, we concluded that the cardiotoxicity in this cas e was not due to ischemia caused by coronary artery spasm.