A case is presented with combined anomalies of coronary arteries: single dominant right coronary artery, ectopic origin of hypoplastic left coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva, anomalous interseptal course of the latter artery, absence of typical left descending and circumflex arteries from the left coronary artery and presence of myocardial bridging

Gesase, Ainory P.

Kosova, Anastasiia A.

Pryakhin, Alexey V.

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IJAE 
Vo l .  120 ,  n .  2 :  9 9 -10 4,  2015
© 2015 Firenze University Press 
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ITALIAN JOURNAL OF ANATOMY AND EMBRYOLOGY
DOI: 10.13128/IJAE-17797
* Corresponding author. E-mail: alpryakhin1980@gmail.com
Research article - Human anatomy case report
Single right coronary artery with hypoplastic  
left coronary artery represented by only descending 
septal branch from the right sinus of Valsalva
Alexey V. Pryakhin1,*, Anastasiia A. Kosova2, Ainory P. Gesase1
Departments of 1 Biomedical Sciences, 2 Surgery and Maternal Health, University of Dodoma, College of Health 
and Allied Sciences
Submitted December 1, 2014; accepted revised February 27, 2015
Abstract
A case is presented with combined anomalies of coronary arteries: single dominant right coro-
nary artery, ectopic origin of hypoplastic left coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva, 
anomalous interseptal course of the latter artery, absence of typical left descending and circum-
flex arteries from the left coronary artery and presence of myocardial bridging.
Key words
Congenital anomaly, single right coronary artery, aberrant hypoplastic left coronary artery, 
descending septal branch, collateral circles
Introduction
Congenital coronary artery anomalies are rare pathological conditions. There are 
differences from normal in origin, course, intrinsic anatomy and termination. The 
incidence of anomalous origin of one of the coronary arteries is about 0.16-2.2% in 
routine angiography, and 0.3% in autopsies (Yamanaka and Hobbs, 1990; Topaz et al., 
1992; Frescura et al., 1998; Balaguer-Malfagón et al., 2005; Komatsu et al., 2008; Ouali 
et al., 2009; Chen, 2012; Opolski et al., 2013; Turkmen et al., 2013). The incidence of 
left coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva among patients undergoing angi-
ography is higher (0.07%) comparing to right coronary artery arising from the left 
sinus of Valsalva (0.04%) (Rigatelli et al., 2004). Single coronary artery is an extremely 
rare anomaly, occurring in 0.024-0.066% cases (Lipton et al, 1979; Desmet et al., 1992; 
Braun et al., 2006; Yadav et al., 2013). The clinical significance of these abnormali-
ties in many cases is relevant. Even among young individuals, myocardial ischemia 
and sudden death may arise with coronary anomalies, e. g. when an abnormal coro-
nary artery is located between the aorta and pulmonary trunk (Basso et al., 2000). We 
report this postmortal case of such a rare congenital anomaly of single right coronary 
artery with hypoplastic left coronary artery having an interseptal course, represented 
by a descending septal branch.
100 Alexey V. Pryakhin et alii
Materials and methods
The reported heart was obtained from an adult cadaver used for teaching to 
undergraduate students at the Department of Anatomy.
Results
No left coronary ostium was found within aortic root or near the corresponding 
aortic sinus of Valsalva. Two openings were seen in the depth of the orifice of the 
right sinus of Valsalva (Fig. 1A). The system of the left coronary artery, represented 
by an aberrant hypoplastic vessel, originated from an orifice from the right aortic 
sinus. It had interseptal course and appeared only as the descending septal branch. 
The size of the vessel at the level of the origin was 5 times less than that of right cor-
onary artery and it coursed through the proximal 2/3 of the interventricular septum 
(Fig. 1B). 
The dominant, enlarged right coronary artery arose from the right sinus of Vals-
alva through a large orifice just rightward to the small orifice of the left, hypoplas-
tic coronary artery. It had normal course in the right atrioventricular groove with its 
typical proximal branching. 
The acute marginal artery, originated from right coronary artery, went down 
winding along the acute margin of the heart, reached the posterior atrioventricular 
groove at its lower third and was coated by a myocardial bridge 2 cm long (Fig. 1C, 
Fig. 2). It turned over the apex of the heart and headed up into the anterior inter-
ventricular groove, going deep into the myocardium. It resurfaced twice, followed 
its course intramural (Fig. 1D, Fig. 2) and joined the right posterior atrioventricular 
branch of the right coronary artery. This branch of the right coronary artery ran in the 
left atrioventricular groove until the anterior surface of the heart, where it gave off 
two branches both corresponding to the obtuse marginal artery. One of these branch-
es anastomosed with a large branch of the acute marginal artery, which sprang out at 
the top of the heart. The other branch joined one of the posterolateral branches deep 
within the free wall of the left ventricle (Fig. 2). 
A mass of dense connective tissue with several lacunar cavities embraced the left 
half of the pulmonary trunk wall, extending between the pulmonary tract and the left 
auricle, reaching the aortic wall and filling the left atrioventricular groove up to the 
coronary sinus (Fig. 1E). 
Discussion
Congenital coronary artery anomalies encompass a range of several anomalies. 
They are reported as absent coronary artery, anomalous location of coronary ostia, 
ectopic origin, anomalous course of coronary arteries, anomalies of intrinsic coronary 
arterial anatomy or its termination. The origin of the left coronary artery may present 
as a common coronary trunk from the right sinus of Valsalva, or as separate ostia 
from that same sinus, like in our case (King, 1940; Joshi et al., 2010). The course of 
the aberrant main left coronary artery may be of four types: prepulmonic, retroaortic, 
101Single right coronary artery
Figure 1 – A: Right coronary ostium with 2 orifices, shown by arrows. B: (1) Right coronary artery, (2) 
Descending septal hypoplastic left coronary artery. C: (1) Right coronary artery, (2) Right acute marginal 
artery, (3) Myocardial bridge. D: Intramural branch of right acute marginal artery in the anterior interven-
tricular groove. Resurfacing is shown by arrows. E: Mass of dense connective tissue with lacunar cavities in 
the left atrioventricular groove (arrow).
102 Alexey V. Pryakhin et alii
interarterial (with potentially poor prognosis) and interseptal, which is not as severe 
as interarterial (Mandal et al., 2014). In most cases the anomalous left coronary artery 
appears on the anterior interventricular groove at different levels after passing deep 
in the interventricular septum, and continues as an anterior descending artery (Joshi 
et al., 2010). Neither the typical anterior descending artery nor circumflex arteries 
were seen here as branches of the left coronary artery, which was present only as a 
descending interseptal branch. In part, the left anterior descending artery was formed 
by the distal part of the right acute marginal branch, whereas the left circumflex 
artery was formed by the distal part of the right posterior atrioventricular branch, 
passing in the left atrioventricular groove.
Consequently, the right coronary artery was a dominant vessel and provided blood 
supply to almost all of the heart through several, large anastomotic branches, which 
replaced the ordinary vessels and provided substitutive blood supply for those parts 
of the heart which normally are supplied by the left coronary artery. The territory of 
the left coronary artery was secured by three collateral circles of the right coronary 
artery system. The right posterolateral branch replaced circumflex artery, the obtuse 
marginal branches of the left coronary artery, and part of the left anterior descending 
artery were replaced by branches continuing the acute marginal artery. Such kind of 
anomalies are often associated with anomalies of intrinsic coronary arterial anatomy in 
the way of myocardial bridging as has been found here (Shin et al., 2012).
Figure 2 – Diagrams of coronary artery distribution in the reported case. (1) Right coronary artery. (2) Right 
acute marginal artery. (3) Right posterior atrioventricular branch of the right coronary artery. (4) Intramural 
branch of right acute marginal artery in the anterior interventricular groove. (5) Branches corresponding to 
obtuse marginal arteries. (6) Large branch of the acute marginal artery at the top of the heart. (7) Posterolat-
eral branches.
103Single right coronary artery
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Single right coronary artery with hypoplastic  left coronary artery represented by only descending septal branch from the right sinus of Valsalva

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Single right coronary artery with hypoplastic left coronary artery represented by only descending septal branch from the right sinus of Valsalva

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