Native whole-heart coronary imaging for the identification of anomalous origin of the coronary arteries

Congenital abnormalities of the coronary arteries are an uncommon cause of chest pain and in some cases may cause sudden cardiac death. We examined with magnetic resonance (MR) a 52 year-old woman presenting with effort angina, and positive treadmill stress test. Whole-heart coronary imaging performed without paramagnetic contrast agents revealed an anomalous origin of a single coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva. This is one of the first reports describing whole-heart coronary MR finding of an anomalous origin of the coronary arteries, obtained without contrast agents. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.