Sudden death arising from a congenital coronary artery fistula.

A medico-legal autopsy conducted on a young Chinese man, a victim of sudden unexpected death, with a vague and unconfirmed history of congenital cardiovascular disease, revealed the presence of a congenital right coronary artery (arteriosystemic) fistula communicating with the markedly hypertrophied left ventricle, which showed microscopic evidence of myocardial ischaemia. The pathology of this rare condition is described and briefly reviewed.