Anomalous communication of the left coronary artery with a peripheral branch of the right pulmonary artery.

A 64-year old man had a history of two myocardial infarctions recurrent episodes of paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia and hemoptysis. Cineangiocardiographic studies showed an anomalous vessel connecting the left coronary artery with a peripheral branch of the right pulmonary artery. Although several coronary obstructive lesions and abnormalities in the distribution of the circumflex branches were found, the anomaly apparently produced a real "pulmonary steal" and, thereby a worsening of the coronary insufficiency. We believe that this is the first reported case in the literature with such a coronary-pulmonary fistula. The angiographic findings are presented in detail, and the possible factors in the development of myocardial ischemia are discussed.