Evaluation of patients for potential compression of anomalous coronaries coursing behind the aortic root before device closure of secundum atrial septal defects

Coronary arteries coursing behind the aortic root may get compressed when nitinol septal occluders are used to close an atrial septal defect. Hence, echocardiographic recognition of a retroaortic linear vessel is important during preinterventional evaluation. While the left circumflex arising from the right coronary artery is the most common cause, a similar finding is sometimes observed in a single left or right coronary artery and rarely with small sinus nodal branches from the left circumflex artery. Complex three-dimensional relations between the defect and the aortic root may be understood only after a postdeployment selective coronary angiography. Two patients with anomalous retroaortic left circumflex from the right coronary artery underwent uneventful device closure with clearly documented separation between the edges of the occluder and the anomalous vessel. Follow-up imaging and exercise testing confirmed the safety of the intervention. A selective postdeployment and postrelease coronary angiography are mandatory in every patient with retroaortic coronaries.