Texas Children’s Hospital hosted its second national conference December 4 and 5, addressing a series of fatal conditions known as coronary artery anomalies.
Coronary artery anomalies are a group of rare congenital heart defects that have been associated with coronary ischemia, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. It is the second most common cause of sudden death in young healthy athletes.
Diagnosing this can be challenging because many individuals with the condition have no symptoms. Those who are symptomatic complain of fainting, chest pain, or palpitations, especially with exercise.
How to best treat a child or young adult with cardiac artery anomalies is a subject of debate in the medical community. Most physicians agree that surgery is necessary for patients who show evidence of decreased blood flow to the heart tissue, but how to treat those these patients who have no physical complaints and who show no evidence of reduced blood flow to the heart is unclear.
Such issues were discussed at the Coronary Artery Anomalies Symposium at the Pavilion for Women. Almost 90 people attended the conference and speakers from 16 leading heart institutions provided a dedicated forum to discuss the diagnosis and management of patients with coronary artery anomalies.
A panel discussion with families affected by the condition brought special attention to the psycho-social needs of patients with cardiac anomalies as well as their parents and siblings. Other talks focused on the most appropriate imaging modalities, identification of risk factors, different management strategies based on best available evidence, surgical techniques, and counseling of patients and families regarding treatment and exercise recommendations.