Congenital coronary artery anomalies as an important cause of sudden death in the young.

Unlike sudden cardiac death in adults and elderly people, sudden cardiac death in young people (< or =35 years) is often triggered by nonatherosclerotic coronary artery disease, either acquired (arteritis, spontaneous dissection) or congenital in origin. In particular, congenital coronary artery malformations were reported as the cause of 5%-35% of sudden death in the young, and a wide range of abnormalities including anomalous origin, course, or both were described.