title: Coronary artery anomalies overview: The normal and the abnormal.
abstract: The aim of this review is to give a comprehensive and concise overview of coronary embryology and normal coronary anatomy, describe common variants of normal and summarize typical patterns of anomalous coronary artery anatomy. Extensive iconography supports the text, with particular attention to images obtained in vivo using non-invasive imaging. We have divided this article into three groups, according to their frequency in the general population: Normal, normal variant and anomaly. Although congenital coronary artery anomalies are relatively uncommon, they are the second most common cause of sudden cardiac death among young athletes and therefore warrant detailed review. Based on the functional relevance of each abnormality, coronary artery anomalies can be classified as anomalies with obligatory ischemia, without ischemia or with exceptional ischemia. The clinical symptoms may include chest pain, dyspnea, palpitations, syncope, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death. Moreover, it is important to also identify variants and anomalies without clinical relevance in their own right as complications during surgery or angioplasty can occur.
authors.affiliation: Adriana DM Villa, Eva Sammut, Amedeo Chiribiri, Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Medical Engineering Centre, Division of Imaging Sciences, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Adriana Dm
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.affiliation: Adriana DM Villa, Eva Sammut, Amedeo Chiribiri, Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Medical Engineering Centre, Division of Imaging Sciences, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sammut
authors.affiliation: Adriana DM Villa, Eva Sammut, Amedeo Chiribiri, Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Medical Engineering Centre, Division of Imaging Sciences, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: Adriana DM Villa, Eva Sammut, Amedeo Chiribiri, Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Medical Engineering Centre, Division of Imaging Sciences, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ronak
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rajani
authors.affiliation: Adriana DM Villa, Eva Sammut, Amedeo Chiribiri, Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Medical Engineering Centre, Division of Imaging Sciences, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bonamini
authors.affiliation: Adriana DM Villa, Eva Sammut, Amedeo Chiribiri, Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Medical Engineering Centre, Division of Imaging Sciences, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Amedeo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiribiri
keywords: Anatomy; Anomalies; Coronary arteries; Heart; Variants