title: [A 60-year-old woman with asthenia and dyspnoea].
abstract: Coronary artery aneurysms are uncommon and the prevalence in patients undergoing coronary artery angiography is 1.5-4.9%. The most common cause of coronary artery aneurysm is arteriosclerosis, followed by Kawasaki disease, periarteritis nodosa, systemic lupus erythematosus, syphilis, rheumatic fever, congenital heart disease and trauma. Most coronary aneurysms remain asymptomatic. Patients may present symptoms of angina or myocardial infarction due to thrombosis within the aneurysm. This would lead to occlusion of the coronary artery or to distal thromboembolisms. There is no consensus on how to manage coronary artery aneurysms. Medical therapies include aspirin as well as warfarin. Surgery may be performed in patients with a large aneurysm, i.e. when the risk of rupture or thrombosis is high. We present a 60-year-old female patient with symptoms of a transient ischaemic attack followed by a period of fever, nausea, vomiting and ecchymoses on the lower extremity. Transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography was suggestive of a tumour located at the basis of the lateral wall of the right atrium. Heart surgery revealed, however, a large right coronary aneurysm and an atrial septum defect of the secundum type.
authors.affiliation: Seksjon for hjertesykdommer, Medisinsk avdeling, Akershus universitetssykehus, 1478 Lørenskog. pirouz.badr@rikshospitalet.no
authors.forename: Pirouz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Badr
authors.forename: Frank E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Sørgaard
authors.forename: Jan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Svennevig
mesh_terms: D001247:Asthenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003323:Coronary Aneurysm / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014463:Ultrasonography