Single coronary

[bubbaben]

I every one  nice to find this forum...I am a 60 year old  male who has been very atheletic  my whole life...From track and cross country  to heavy weight lifting  for  30 years.....At the age of  50 I started  really  getting tired all the time and had very little energy..so quit everything  .....Have been talking to my doctors for 10 years telling everyone who would listen that it wasnt right to feel that way.......Any how  about  three months ago I had a reaction to nyquil   that sent me to the hospital...All the symptoms were the same as a heart attack   but all the test showed  no heart attack no stroke and no nothing.....They put a great cardiologist on my  case  and it has been a wirl wind of doctors since  .....Tons of test   3 trips to Mayo  Clinic   to meet the best  ACHD  doctor anywhere( in my opinion)   They have found that I have a right coronary artery only....  My  left coronary is missing  and both my  LAD  and  CX    are both attached to opposite sides of the right coronary  Have a few more test to go at Mayo in about a week  to have a TEE  they want to check the back of my heart...They  have told me that  as of now  they dont feel they need to do any kind of surgery....I guess if I were to have a question it would be will I some day in the near future need surgery  or can people live into there  80s and  90s   with this  if treated with meds ....

[bubbaben]

Thanks  for the info...  The surgeon at  Mayo that consulted did say  if  a regular bypass was tried it would not  take and the graft would die.....He  said if it comes down to it they would have to  sew  arteries  partway  closed to adjust the pressure  but as of now  dont touch it untill we r sure it is broke....They r trying to find out for sure where all the blood is coming from to supply the left side    but something is.....They also want to make sure that nothing is pinched off  anywhere around the heart  front or back.......Sounds like my only  issue in life will be to make sure I never get any kind of blockage in the artery......So far so good.....

[kenkeith]

You are in consultation with the best surgeons and yu have a rare congentital anomaly of vessel configuration...,but you have vessels providing blood flow to the area normally supplied by the LAD.  For some insight, normally, the LAD is dominant vessels indicating vessel branches from the LAD to supply oxygenated blood to left side of the heart, etc.  Then there is the rightside (RCA) dominant and that helps feed the left side in conjuction iwth the left artery.  Then there can be a combination configuration!

Whether or not intervention is required ot supply blood to a deficit area with a bypass, stent or medication may require rigorous analysis of blood flow based on the branching pattern and vascular geometry of the full vascular circuit of interest. The surgeon may develope a novel method for the reconstruction of a full/partial  coronary vascular tree from partial measurements, etc.

Or intervention may not be very complex based on the fact your vascular system has been actively providing sufficient blood flow with the native geometry and intervention can be with a stent and/or medication...because the geometry is unusual that doesn't mean the configuration is inadequate!  If your system sustained viability with the heavy demand for oxygenated blood supply for so many years you may have an adequate workable system for the remainder of your life free from any serious cardiovascular events.  

Thanks for sharing, and if you have any further questions or comments you arfe welcome to reply.  Take care, and I wish you well going forward.

Ken