title: Origin and distribution anomalies of the left anterior descending artery in 70,850 adult patients: multicenter data collection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present the clinical and angiographic properties of the left anterior descending artery anomalies.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Coronary artery anomalies are discovered in less than 1% of angiography series. Since the number of angiographies and coronary bypass operations are increasing significantly every day, these anomalies are of clinical importance. However, data about left anterior descending artery anomalies in literature is still scarce.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed the records of 70,850 patients who had undergone coronary angiographies at 4 different cardiology center from 1999 to 2005 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Major congenital coronary anomalies were discovered in 171 of these cases (0,24%). The mean age of these patients was 61 +/- 11 (18-84) years. Ninety nine patients (58%) were male. Left anterior descending artery was involved in 12 patients (0.017%). In nine patients with the anomalous LAD there were concomittant congenital coronary artery anomalies. Concurrent coronary artery anomalies encountered were double left anterior descending artery type 4 (2 cases), double left anterior descending artery type 4 with double right coronary artery (1), double right coronary artery (1), double circumflex artery with anomalous left anterior descending artery (1), circumflex artery from right sinus of Valsalva (1), separate septal perforator and myocardial bridging of posterior descending artery (1), intercoronary communication, and ostial atresia of the left anterior descending artery and anomalous circumflex artery (1).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our series is the biggest series where relatively sufficient clinical and angiographic information about the LAD anomalies were provided.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcuimam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. cetuncer@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Cemal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tuncer
authors.forename: Talantbek
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Batyraliev
authors.forename: Remzi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gokce
authors.forename: Beyhan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eryonucu
authors.forename: Sedat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koroglu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003330:Coronary Vessel Anomalies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies