ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the clinical characteristics, therapeutic efficacy and prognosis of congenital coronary artery fistula (CAF) in children.Methods:Clinical data of 71 pediatric patients diagnosed with congenital CAF at Department of Cardiology and Department of Cardiac Surgery, Shanghai Children′s Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2013 to June 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.The median age was 2.2 years (0.1-14.0 years), and the median body weight was 18.3 kg (3.2-55.8 kg), including 37 males (52.1%) and 34 females (47.9%). They were divided into the transcatheter closure group (30 cases) and surgical repair group (41 cases). The therapeutic effect and follow-up data of the 2 groups were compared by the Fisher′ s exact test. Results:Among the 71 congenital CAF children, 70 had heart murmurs, 2 had chest tightness after activity, and 5 were prone to recurrent respiratory tract infection.Transcatheter closure and surgical repair were successfully performed in 22/30 (73.3%) and 41/41 (100.0%) cases with a statistically significant difference ( P=0.001). However, in the surgical repair group, 1 (2.4%) case died after operation and 2(4.9%) needed further transcatheter closure due to large residual shunt during the follow-up period.At the last follow-up, there were 2 cases with minimal or small residual shunt in both groups ( P=0.567). There were 2/71(2.8%) cases suffering from postoperative thrombosis. Conclusions:Cardiac murmur is the main sign of congenital CAF in children, and some of them may have frequent respiratory tract infection due to increased lung blood caused by a large amount of shunt.A few children have chest tightness and chest pain due to myocardial ischemia caused by coronary steal.Both percutaneous closure and surgical repair are safe and effective with few complications.
ABSTRACT
We describe successful surgical treatment of a right coronary artery aneurysm associated with a fistula to the right atrium (RA). The patient was a 50-year-old man who complained of palpitations. ECG showed supraventricular extrasystole, and coronary CT revealed a remarkably dilated and undulating fistulous tract originating from the region corresponding to the orifice of the normal right coronary artery (RCA). The fistulous tract detoured to the posterior wall of the RA. An RCA of normal size originating from the midway of the fistulous tract was observed. The patient was operated on under cardio-pulmonary bypass. An aortocoronary bypass was performed, using a radial artery graft to section of the RCA that had a normal diameter. The RCA was subsequently ligated at the proximal side of the anastomosis. The orifice of the fistulous tract from the aorta was closed with a patch, and the entrance to the RA was also closed with mattress sutures. The postoperative recovery was uneventful, and he was discharged on the 19th postoperative day. Currently, the patient has been doing well without any complaints at 2 years postoperatively.