Anatomic variations of coronary arteries: origins, branching patterns, and abnormalities

AbstractBackgroundAnatomic variations in orifices, courses, branching patterns, and abnormalities of coronary arteries could affect blood supply, hemodynamic characteristics, and clinical symptoms, and could be a risk of atherosclerosis.ObjectivesTo investigate the location and number of both coronary orifices in the aortic cusps, branching patterns of left main trunk, dominant pattern of posterior interventricular artery (PIA), prevalence of right posterior diagonal artery (RPDA), myocardial bridge, and other abnormalities.MethodsWe dissected 95 heart specimens from cadavers of Thai donors without the history of surgery, and the dominant patterns, location and number of orifices in the aortic cusps, branching patterns, origin and number of conal arteries, and occurrence of RPDA were determined.ResultsDual aortic origin of the coronary orifice was the most common condition. Anomalous 2 orifices in the left aortic cusp were found in one specimen in which the right coronary artery (RCA) arose from aortic cusp and had an interarterial course. Right dominance and trifurcated form of left main trunk were found more frequently. Most frequently 2 conal arteries were found. RPDA was found in 45% and mostly originated from RCA. The prevalence of myocardial bridge was 62% and located mostly on the anterior interventricular artery (AIA).ConclusionsThe prevalence of right dominance, RPDA, the atypical origin of RCA from the left sinus, and the prevalence of myocardial bridges was more frequent than reported by others, whereas the dual aortic origin from both cusps and the prevalence of bifurcated left main trunk was less frequent.

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The size of the coronary arteries in children with complete transposition before and after the arterial switch operation

Cardiology in the Young ◽

10.1017/s1047951100002316 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 340-346 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Koichi Yatsunami ◽

Makoto Nakazawa ◽

Masashi Seguchi ◽

Kazuo Momma ◽

Yasuharu Imai

Keyword(s):

Coronary Artery ◽

Coronary Arteries ◽

Right Coronary Artery ◽

Arterial Switch Operation ◽

Left Main ◽

Main Trunk ◽

Left Main Trunk ◽

Complete Transposition ◽

Switch Operation ◽

The Right

AbstractThe size of the coronary arteries parallels the ventricular mass, thus it may be abnormal in complete transposition beyond infancy and could be influenced by the arterial switch operation. To investigate this possibility, we measured the diameters of the right, left main trunk, anterior descending, and circumflex coronary arteries before and three to seven years (mean 4.8) after the arterial switch operation in 17 patients with a “normal” distribution of the coronary arteries (so-called Shaher type 1). The values were compared with 18 controls who had Kawasaki disease with no apparent coronary arterial disease. The right, left anterior descending, and circumflex arteries were smaller than control values before the operation. The post-/preoperative ratios of the diameter were 1.16±0.11 for the right coronary artery, 1.18±0.16 for the left main trunk, 1.20±0.18 for the left anterior descending artery, and 1.22±0.26 for the circumflex artery. There were no significant differences among these values. After surgery, the right coronary artery was larger, but the left coronary arteries were smaller in the patients than in the controls: 2.5±0.3 vs 2.0±0.2 mm for the right coronary artery; 2.4±0.3 vs 2.7±0.1 mm for the left main trunk; 1.9±0.2 vs 2.4±0.2 mm for the left anterior descending artery; 1.6±0.4 vs 2.2±0.5 mm for the circumflex artery, respectively. The posterior descending coronary artery originated from the right coronary artery in all patients. The total cross-sectional area of the right coronary, left anterior descending, and circumflex arteries was 9.7±2.4 mm2in the patients, and 11.8±2.9 mm2in the controls (p>O. 1), suggesting that the increased size of the right coronary artery compensates for the small left coronary arteries. We conclude that the arterial system in complete transposition, with a large right coronary artery and small left coronary system, remains smaller than normal even at midterm follow-up after anatomic repair despite normalization of left ventricular volume and muscle mass.

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