An intracavitary location of a coronary artery is rare in our surgical experience with revascularization. This variant has occured in the right coronary artery (0.01%) and in left anterior descending coronary artery (0.2%). The location of the lesion and the pathological condition, length and size of the coronary may dictate exposure of an intracavitary coronary artery for proper revascularization; more commonly surgeons are anaware of the intracavitary position and during intramyocardial dissection of an artery will open a cardiac chamber where the vessel traverses the cavity. Problems that arise are introducion of air, dificulty in exposure due to blood and depth of position and obstruction of the coronary artery during closure of the myotomy. Three patients are presented who required revascularization of intracavitary vessels (three right coronary arteries). The location and lenght of the intracavitary portion of the artery determined the surgical management the methods used to close the cavity varied. The techniques employed were simple closure moving the artery into an aerial position with cavitary closure using bovine pericardium; anastomosis in the intracavitary position with closure of the myotomy, or selection of an alternate distal site for anastomosis.
Coronary vessels; Myocardial revascularization
