Repair of Anomalous Left Coronary Artery From the Right Pulmonary Artery: A Series of Nine Cases.

BACKGROUND

Repair of anomalous left coronary artery from the right pulmonary artery presents a particular technical challenge to the congenital cardiac surgeon. There is disagreement in the literature over the optimal technique for this defect, with some authors advocating for unroofing of the periaortic segment of coronary artery, while others prefer direct aortic reimplantation of the artery.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective study examining outcomes of patients who were repaired for this anomaly at our institution. In-hospital and outpatient follow-up data were analyzed.

RESULTS

Nine patients were identified. Most patients had poor left ventricular function at the time of surgery. All patients in our series were repaired using the direct coronary transfer technique. To date there were no mortalities among the study participants. At last follow-up, all patients with available echocardiograms had normal ventricular function. One patient required reoperation for anastomotic stenosis.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrate that using the technique of direct coronary transfer to the aorta, we have achieved excellent results with repair of this defect.