Fistulae between the coronary arteries and the right cavities of the heart. Report of three cases treated surgically.

Communications between coronary arteries and the venous side of the circulation are a rare type of congenital malformation (2-7 per thousand in the experience of Gasul et al. (I960) and 4 per thousand in that of Nora, McNamara, and Fraser (I967)). Krause (i 865) first reported a case of coronary fistula, Abbott (I908) described the illness, and Biorck and Crafoord (I947) reported the continuous murmur. The right coronary artery is most usually affected, and the fistulae occur, in order of frequency, at the level of the right ventricle, right atrium, pulmonary artery, coronary sinus, and vena cava (Edwards, I958; Neufeld et al., I96I). The communicating artery is found to be considerably dilated, its course is tortuous, and there may be one communication or many.