Coronary artery fistulas (CAF) are rare anomalies that pose a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Most of them originate from the right coronary artery and are congenital. They are often associated with coronary aneurysms. We report the case of a 38-year-old Black man who presented with exertion dyspnea. Transthoracic echocardiography found what was thought to be a bi-atrial hydatid cyst, alongside a right atrial shunt. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging showed a cystic lesion hypointense on T1 and T2 sequences, located next to the left atrium as well as an aneurysmal circumflex artery shunting in the right atrium. Coronary angiography and computed tomography angiography confirmed the bilobed circumflex saccular aneurysm and CAF. The patient underwent a successful surgery, which consisted of closure of the fistula using two patches. He was discharged after an uneventful postoperative course. Our case report illustrates the diagnostic difficulty of CAF and the importance of multimodal imaging.
In multi-vessel coronary artery disease, concomitant ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in simultaneous two culprit lesions have been rarely reported. In this regard, the recurrence in a short period of time of a STEMI in a different coronary artery is also rare. We describe the case of a 56-year-old male smoker, who was presented with an anterior STEMI. The coronary angiography demonstrated a significant lesion in the left main coronary (LMC) and an occlusion of the left anterior descending artery (LAD), and was referred for surgery. Four days later, he experienced symptoms of acute ischemia of the inferior territory. A newly formed culprit lesion of the circumflex artery (Cx) was detected and benefited from angioplasty. The patient expired the next day from sudden arrythmia. This case report shows two consecutive STEMI situations in separate coronary arteries, which commonly can occur in atherosclerotic patients with very poor prognosis.
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