Anomalous Origin of the Left Coronary Artery from the Right Pulmonary Artery

Abstract

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery (LCA) from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital anomaly, one which requires a high index of suspicion in order to be diagnosed promptly and managed accurately. ALCAPA from the right branch pulmonary artery (RPA) is a small subset of ALCAPA in general, with only a few reported cases in the world literature. We report two cases of ALCAPA from the RPA: the first case, an infant, presented in severe cardiac failure requiring preoperative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for stabilization; and the second, a neonate, presented with severe aortic coarctation (CoA). Both patients underwent successful complete surgical repair using a modified surgical technique, and are doing well in midterm follow-up. We describe our operative technique and review the literature of this rare congenital anomaly.