Familial mediterranean fever and acute myocardial infarction secondary to coronary vasculitis

AIMS: We report a case study to elucidate the pathogenesis of polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) type vasculitis, a rare complication of familial mediterranean fever (FMF). METHODS AND RESULTS: A woman with amyloidosis complicating FMF underwent a cadaveric renal transplantation and 5 years later suffered an acute myocardial infarction secondary to an isolated coronary vasculitis. CONCLUSIONS: The histopathological findings of the vasculitis were not in keeping with PAN. We postulated that the pathogenesis of vasculitis in FMF is different from that of the classic PAN and might be similar to the mechanism of the serosal inflammation.