Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Fistulas: Clinical Aspects and Brief Review of the Literature

Abstract

An 86-year-old woman with history of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and coronary artery disease was admitted with new-onset congestive heart failure and pneumonia. She underwent coronary angiography after suffering a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. There was severe coronary artery disease in addition to coronary artery–pulmonary fistulas involving proximal right coronary artery and a branch of left main coronary artery.

Coronary artery fistula (CAF) is an abnormal communication between one or more coronary arteries and great vessels or a cardiac chamber. We reviewed 15 cases of CAFs published in PubMed and studied the clinical features of CAFs.

Keywords

congestive heart failure - fistulas - cardiac catheterization - angiography - coronary arteries

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