Isolated Obstruction of the Right Coronary Artery

¹ Cardiac Unit, Wentworth Hospital and the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa

Twelve patients with isolated narrowing (70 percent or more) or complete obstruction of the right coronary artery were studied. Five patients had subtotal occlusion, and only one had evidence of infarction. Seven patients had complete obstruction of the right coronary artery: one had good collateral circulation, a normal resting electrocardiogram (ECG) and ventriculogram; four had clinical, ECG and ventriculographic evidence of infarction, but the asynergy was relatively localized and part of the diaphragmatic surface of the left ventricle had been protected by a normal circumflex artery with important posterolateral branches. The other two patients, with a small circumflex artery, had extensive ECG changes and diaphragmatic asynergy.