Gender Differences in Types and Frequencies of Coronary Artery Anomalies and Myocardial Bridge in 10,457 Chinese Undergoing 320-Slice Computed Tomography

Varied frequencies of coronary artery anomalies (CAAs) and myocardial bridge (MB) exist in previous studies. Race and gender may play a role. The present study aimed to investigate the gender differences in types and frequencies of coronary artery anomalies (CAAs) and myocardial bridge (MB) in Chinese undergoing 320-slice coronary computed tomography. The authors assessed prospectively the records of 10,457 consecutive patients who underwent 320-slice coronary computed tomography for any reason. CAAs were divided into 4 groups: 1) Anomalies of origination; 2) Anomalies of intrinsic coronary arterial anatomy; 3) fistula; 4) Number anomalies. Clinical relevance based classifications of CAAs (Class I-Benign; II-Relevant; III-Severe; IV-Critical) were also presented. Types and frequencies of CAAs and MB were compared between males and females. The overall prevalence of CAAs was 2.60% in our study, involving 0.62% of anomalies of origination, 1.72% of anomalies of intrinsic coronary arterial anatomy, 0.23% of fistula, and 0.04% of number anomalies. Gender differences were not presented in the frequencies of the majority of CAAs (p>0.05). However, males were more likely to have LCX originating from the right sinus of Valsalva when compared with females (0.11% vs. 0.01%, p=0.027). There was no difference of clinical relevance based classifications of CAAs between males and females (p>0.05). The prevalence of MB was 33.15% (3466/10,475) in total. Higher frequency (19.13% vs. 14.0%, p<0.001) and longer average length (16.89±8.58mm vs. 13.71±8.50mm, p<0.001) of MB were observed in males than those in females; while the distribution and the mean depth of MB were similar in males and females (p>0.05). In conclusion, LCX originating from the right sinus of Valsalva and MB with longer average length occurred more frequently in Chinese males than females.