Myocardial Infarction With a Single Coronary Artery

Abstract

THE PRESENCE of a single coronary artery falls into the spectrum of congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries ¹ which have been recognized with increasing frequency in the past several years. However, this condition is sufficiently rare that only 74 cases have been reported in the literature. The study of Alexander and Griffith² showed that some form of anomaly was present in the coronary arteries in 2.85 per 1,000 autopsies. In this series of 18,950 autopsies, only seven had a single coronary artery which gave an incidence of 0.36 per 1,000 autopsies. Of the 74 reported cases, 47 were in adults. Only eight of the adult cases have been associated with myocardial infarction or myocardial ischemia. For this reason, the present case is being reported. Report of a Case This 54-year-old Caucasian man had enjoyed excellent health except for a history of progressive deafness in his right ear