Traumatic right coronary artery--right atrial fistula.

Traumatic coronary artery fistulae and intracardiac shunts due to penetrating wounds of the heart are rare, with only 19 reported cases in the literature. The communication, which may involve one or both coronary arteries, is classified into two major types depending on whether the drainage is into the left or right heart. We report a right coronary artery (RCA) right atrial fistula (RA) secondary to shrapnel injury in 1944.