A case for routine screening of coronary artery origins during echocardiography: fortuitous discovery of a life-threatening coronary anomaly.
Anomalous origin of the left main coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva with retropulmonary course is a rare congenital abnormality. It is associated with a high incidence of sudden cardiac death, particularly among young, athletic individuals. Many of these individuals do not have symptoms before sudden death, and the diagnosis is usually made at postmortem examination. We present a case of a 15-year-old boy who was evaluated for a systolic click with routine 2-dimensional echocardiography. The anomalous coronary artery was serendipitously identified, allowing surgical intervention. Coronary artery origin and proximal course should be visualized on routine echocardiography in the pediatric population.
Stefanelli
C B
CB
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle 98105, USA.
Stevenson
J G
JG
Jones
T K
TK
Lester
J R
JR
Cecchin
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D001011:Aorta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003330:Coronary Vessel Anomalies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012850:Sinus of Valsalva / Q000002:abnormalities*; D014463:Ultrasonography