An unusual case of chest pain and dyspnea on exertion ()
Geetinder Goyal,
Isabel Oliva,
Pramod Bonde,
Clemente Britto,
Wassim H. Fares
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Yale University of School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
Department of Radiology, Yale University of School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
Pulmonary, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine, Yale University of School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
DOI: 10.4236/crcm.2013.22028
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Abstract
Congenital coronary artery anomalies occur in less than 1% of the
general population with clinical consequences ranging from benign incidental
findings to sudden cardiac death. More often than not this diagnosis is made on
a postmortem examination but up to one third of the patients have symptoms such as exertional chest pain and dyspnea.
Due to the correctable nature of this entity and the fact that anomalous
origins of coronary arteries can be readily diagnosed by noninvasive cardiac
imaging modalities, timely clinical suspicion based on symptoms is critical. We
present a case of a 37 years old with exertional chest pain and dyspnea of
several years duration who was found to have an anomalous origin of the left
main coronary artery. A surgical correction was undertaken which resulted in resolution of his symptoms. Our case highlights the importance of keeping congenital
coronary anomalies on the differential diagnosis for exertional chest pain
and dyspnea in young individuals and following inconclusive noninvasive
testing with more definitive diagnostic modalities.
Share and Cite:
Goyal, G. , Oliva, I. , Bonde, P. , Britto, C. and Fares, W. (2013) An unusual case of chest pain and dyspnea on exertion.
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
2, 108-110. doi:
10.4236/crcm.2013.22028.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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