[Single coronary artery originating from the left pulmonary artery of a "truncus arteriosus communis" in a living 39 year-old-patient (author's transl)].

Observation of a single coronary artery with origin from left pulmonary artery in a 39 year-old man who was brought to the operating table for correction of a persistent truncus arteriosus is discussed. The anomaly is expectional and has never been described intra vitam. The authors explain the possible formal genesis on the basis of the most accepted embriogenetic theories and they analyze the special physiopathological behaviour which allowed the long survival and the good physical state of the patient which is still only slightly reduced. In this case a precedent cerebral abscess and frequent hemophtysis indicated the surgical treatment of the truncus arteriosus which was nor performed because of the finding of the coronary anomaly not previously seen with angiography. The authors emphasize the necessity of an accurate pre-operative study of the coronary tree in all patients with persistent truncus arteriosus, to avoid the possibility that anomalies of the origin and course of the coronary arteries can make radical surgical treatment difficult or impossible.