ANOMALOUS RIGHT OR LEFT CORONARY-ARTERY FROM THE CONTRALATERAL CORONARY SINUS - HIGH-RISK ABNORMALITIES IN THE INITIAL CORONARY-ARTERY COURSE AND HETEROGENEOUS CLINICAL OUTCOMES
Aj. Taylor et al., ANOMALOUS RIGHT OR LEFT CORONARY-ARTERY FROM THE CONTRALATERAL CORONARY SINUS - HIGH-RISK ABNORMALITIES IN THE INITIAL CORONARY-ARTERY COURSE AND HETEROGENEOUS CLINICAL OUTCOMES, The American heart journal, 133(4), 1997, pp. 428-435
Coronary artery anomalies are associated with sudden cardiac death, al
though individual patient outcomes are highly variable. We performed b
linded pathologic analysis of 30 consecutive cases of anomalous right
(n = 21) or left (n = 9) coronary artery from the contralateral corona
ry sinus to determine which, if any, features might aid in risk strati
fication for sudden cardiac death. We found no significant differences
in length of aortic intramural segment, coronary ostial size, degree
of displacement of the anomalous coronary artery from the correct coro
nary sinus, or angle of coronary takeoff between patients with (n = 12
) and without (n = 18) sudden cardiac death. All pathologic features s
howed considerable interpatient variability. Age greater than or equal
to 30 years was the only variable associated with a decreased inciden
ce of sudden cardiac death. Thus no simple relation exists between var
iations in the initial coronary artery course and clinical outcome in
these anomalies.