Congenital fistulae of the coronary arteries. Clinical considerations and surgical management in 23 patients.

Experience gained during the past 18 years at the Texas Heart Institute in the surgical treatment of 23 patients with coronary artery fistulae is reported. Patients ranged in age from three to 63 years; 18 were women. The right coronary artery was most frequently involved (14 patients) and in 18 patients the fistulous communication was terminal. Cardiac catheterization and angiography were aids in determining the exact diagnosis in all but two patients. During the last three years cardiopulmonary bypass was used in five of eight patients, and it is believed that extracorporeal circulation should be employed routinely. Terminal fistulae were ligated with sutures distally, close to the cardiac chamber. Lateral fistulae, when single, can be closed if feasible by tangential arteriorrhaphy. However, in most of these patients multiple communications and aneurysmal dilatation are encountered which would be treated more successfully by proximal and distal ligation of the fistula and distal coronary bypass revascularization. There were no operative deaths in our series. It is believed that with the help of today's advanced methods in anesthesia, extracorporeal circulation and coronary artery bypass surgery, all patients with coronary artery fistulae, once diagnosis has been made, should undergo surgical treatment.