Case report: incidental finding of a giant cardiac mass

Abstract

Coronary artery fistula (CAF) is a rare anomalous connection between a coronary artery and another coronary artery, major vessel, or cardiac chamber. Prevalence of CAF is reportedly 1% to 2% in patients who undergo coronary angiography.1 One of the most common complications of CAF is formation of a coronary artery aneurysm (CAA). A study conducted by Said and colleagues in 1995 found that CAA formation was present in 26% of patients who had proven CAF by way of angiography.2 Although a precise definition of the term "giant" CAA is still lacking, it generally refers to a dilatation that exceeds the reference vessel diameter by four times.3 We report an interesting case of a 38-year-old patient who was incidentally found to have a presumed large right ventricular aneurysm, which after an open-heart surgery was identified as a CAF with formation of an unruptured giant CAA.