Surgical implications of anomalous aortic origin of the left coronary artery

We report a patient with exertional chest pain and anomalous aortic origin of the left coronary artery from the right coronary sinus. This patient also had circumflex coronary and right coronary artery stenoses. Following coronary bypass grafting of the circumflex and right coronary arteries in this patient, angina persisted and there was abnormal septal perfusion shown on the exercise thallium imaging despite patent grafts. The angina and perfusion defect were improved by bypass grafting of the unstenosed left anterior descending coronary artery in this patient. Thallium imaging may be useful in the preoperative assessment of patients with this anomaly.