An Unexpected Finding in a Diabetic Patient Studied With Transthoracic Echocardiography

Abstract

Coronary artery fistulas comprise can be can be either congenital or acquired. Congenital fistulas represent about 14% of congenital coronary artery anomalies, but they are seen also in approximately 0.1 to 0.2% of all patients undergoing selective coronary angiography. Then, acquired fistulas have been reported as a complication of deceleration accidents, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or cardiac surgery. We describe a case we evaluated through transthoracic echocardiographic technique (ultrasound findings confirmed by transesophageal technique).

Incidental congenital coronary artery vascular fistulas in adults: Evaluation with adenosine-13N-ammonia PET-CT

“…CAFs are classified as anomalies of termination[ 7 ]. Several diagnostic modalities are available for the morphological and functional detection of CAFs, including physical examination (presence of a continuous murmur), non-invasive methods such as echocardiography[ 8 , 9 ], myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI)[ 10 , 11 ], CTCA[ 3 , 9 , 12 ] and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)[ 13 ], invasive techniques such as right heart catheterization, CAG and fractional flow reserve (FFR)[ 1 , 14 - 18 ], and incidental detection during positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT)[ 19 , 20 ]. Exercise and pharmacological PET-CT is commonly applied for the assessment of myocardial perfusion and ischemia, and for the diagnosis and risk stratification of ischemic coronary artery disease (CAD)[ 21 , 22 ].…”