A study of coronary artery variants and anomalies observed at a tertiary care armed forces hospital using 64-slice MDCT

BACKGROUND: Isolated coronary artery anomalies are usually clinically silent and mostly detected incidentally during angiography or autopsy. However, few of them may be implicated in cases of sudden cardiac death even in the absence of additional heart abnormalities. Prior knowledge of such variants and anomalies is necessary for planning various interventional procedures. Multiple detector computed tomography coronary angiography has proved a very useful non-invasive modality in this field given its superiority over conventional coronary angiography in providing detailed coronary artery anatomy. METHODS: A retrospective review of the coronary CT angiography studies was carried out at our center between August 2014 and December 2015 with the purpose of describing the coronary artery variants and anomalies that we came across in our cohort. RESULTS: In our cohort, about 77% (n = 391) of the patients had a right dominant system while left dominant and co-dominant systems were seen in 12% (n = 61) and 11% (n = 56) respectively. Coronary CT angiography was successful in visualizing smaller branches, such as the conus artery (96.25%, n = 489), the sinus node artery (83.07%, n = 422), and the septal branches (95.27%, n = 484). Coronary anomalies were observed in the 10.04% of our population (n = 51). Eleven anomalies of origin and course were found. CONCLUSION: Coronary CT angiography gives us a good understanding of the variations and anomalies of the anatomy of the coronary arteries. This can be of immense help to the clinician planning interventional procedures.