DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i04.037

Pages: 1407-1410

Coronary angiography is the ideal tool for imaging the coronary anomaly, but the relation of coronary artery fistulas to other structures, and their origin and course, may not be sensitive. We evaluated the ability of color Doppler transthoracic echocardiography in the assessment of patients with coronary artery fistulas. Eight patients with CT angiography confirmed coronary artery fistulas were investigated by transthoracic echocardiography at affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University between January 2009 and June 2015. The right coronary artery was involved in 4 cases and the left coronary artery in 4. Four fistulas drained to the right ventricle, 3 to the right atrium, and 1 to the left ventricle. Coronary artery aneurysms, aortic valve prolapse with severe aortic regurgitation were involved in one patient. The diagnosis of coronary fistulas can usually be made by echocardiography with color flow mapping and CT echocardiography. Color Doppler echocardiography is useful to visualize shunt flows originating from the opening or in the precise localization of coronary artery fistulas.