Relationship between hypoplastic right coronary artery and coronary artery anomalies

OBJECTIVES: Thefrequencyofhy - poplastic right coronary artery (HRCA) and its contribution to coronary artery anomalies (CAAs) has not been thoroughly studied. Here we aimed toinvestigatewhetheracasualrelationshipexists betweenthepresenceofHRCAandCAAs. MATERIALS AND METHODS : We retrospec - tivelyreviewedcoronaryangiographyrecordsof 7500 patients. The images were carefully as - sessed for coronary artery (CA) anatomy and CAAs. Overall, we compared CAAs at the pres - ence and absence of HRCA and evaluated po - tential association between HRCA and CAAs. Besides, we grouped HRCA patients according to the presence of CA disease (CAD) into two groupsandcomparedtheirCAAs. RESULTS: While the percentage of HRCA was 6.2%,itwas3.34%forCAAs.ThepercentageofCA with anomalous origin (CAAO) at the presence of HRCAwassignificantlyhigherthanthepresenceof normalrightcoronaryartery(NRCA)( p<0.01).Sim - ilarly, the percentage of absent left main coronary artery(ALMCA)wasalsoconsiderableincreasedin HRCApatientswithrespecttothepatientswithNR - CA( p<0.01).ThepercentageofCAAOwasnotably higher in the CAD (-) than CAD (+) patients with HRCA( p<0.01).Likewise,theprevalenceofALM - CAwasalsonoticeablyhigherintheCAD(-)than CAD(+)patientswithHRCA( p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS : HRCA is a clinically signifi- cantandfrequentlyencounteredcongenitalvari- ation.Thepresentobservationsindicatethatthe presence of HRCA is closely associated with a high prevalence of CAAO, particularly with in - creasedrateofALMCA.