Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Spontaneous closure of congenital coronary artery fistulas
  1. J-M Schleicha,
  2. C Reya,
  3. M Gewilligb,
  4. A Bozioc
  1. aService des Maladies Cardiovasculaires Infantiles et Congénitales, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Lille, France, bDepartment of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Leuven, Belgium, cService de Cardiologie C, Hôpital Cardiologique, Lyon, France
  1. Dr Jean-Marc Schleich, Département de Cardiologie et de Maladies Vasculaires, Centre Cardio-Pneumologique, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, 35033 Rennes Cedex, Francejean-marc.schleich{at}chu-rennes.fr

Abstract

Six cases of full spontaneous closure of congenital coronary artery fistulas, and one case of near closure, as seen by colour Doppler echocardiography, are presented. It is worth reconsidering the classical view that nearly all cases of spontaneous closure are eligible for surgical or percutaneous correction to prevent the development of significant and potentially fatal complications. As the natural course of coronary artery fistulas is still poorly defined, asymptomatic patients, especially those under 7 years old with small shunts, should be periodically followed up by echocardiography rather than be subjected to operative closure, even by catheterisation.

  • congenital heart disease
  • coronary artery disease
  • coronary artery fistula
  • spontaneous closure

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.