A Case of Anomalous Aortic Origin of the Right Coronary Artery Treated by Direct Coronary Reimplantation

Hikaru Uchiyama＊	Kojiro Furukawa＊＊	Tomofumi Fukuda＊
Yuichiro Hirata＊	Tatsushi Onzuka＊	Eiki Tayama＊＊＊
Shigeki Morita＊

（Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinical Research Institute, National Hospital Organization Kyushu Medical Center＊, Fukuoka, Japan, Thorac Cardiovascular Surgery, School of Medicine, Ryukyu University＊＊, Nakagami, Japan, and Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Kurume University＊＊＊, Kurume, Japan）

Anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery is a rare congenital anomaly that can cause myocardial ischemia and ventricular arrhythmia. This disease initially manifests as cardiac arrest in half of patients. The indications and surgical strategy remain unclear, especially in patients who are asymptomatic and have poor ischemic findings. We report a surgical strategy to treat anomalous aortic origin of the right coronary artery. A 47-year-old man with a chief complaint of chest tightness was diagnosed with anomalous aortic origin of the right coronary artery, which branches from the left sinus of Valsalva and runs an inter-arterial course. Although no objective myocardial ischemia was identified with blood tests, electrocardiography, or cardiac catheterization, we suspected that the cause of the thoracic symptoms was sharp branching of the right coronary artery, which was compressed between the ascending aorta and the pulmonary artery. To reduce the risk of sudden death in the future, we performed reimplantation of the right coronary artery. Good imaging results were obtained, and the patient is currently undergoing outpatient follow up and has not experienced recurrence of chest symptoms. We conclude that our surgical strategy to treat anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery may be useful in the clinic.

 

Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 50:235-239（2021）

Keywords：anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery;right coronary artery from the left sinus;coronary reimplantation