Association of coronary to left ventricular microfistulae (vessels of Wearn) with atrial septal defect in an adult without cyanotic heart disease.

Vessels of Wearn are rare findings during coronary angiography in adults. They are known to be associated with forms of cyanotic congenital heart disease in infants but we are not aware of any published cases of association with non-cyanotic left to right shunts in adults. We present the case of a 69-year-old man with angiographically evident vessels of Wearn draining from the left and right coronary arteries into the left ventricle associated with an asymptomatic atrial septal defect. We postulate a developmental phase association between atrial septal maturation and closure of perfusing microchannels from the ventricular cavities to the epicardial coronary arteries on the same spectrum as that which leads to more widespread defects in infants. We also highlight a common medication side effect that might have been mistaken as a manifestation of the congenital anomalies. 2015 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.