[Apropos of a case of solitary left coronary artery]

The single coronary artery stems from the coronary ostium in one of the aortic Valsalva sinuses: no other coronary artery is present. On its own, it vascularized the whole myocardium. It is a very rare condition--0.36% according to anatomists. Anatomical study by injection-corrosion on 200 hearts at Dakar Medical Faculty's anatomical laboratory revealed only one case of single, left-hand coronary artery. It had come from a 45 year old adult killed in an accident, who, up to that time, had suffered no cardio-vascular pathology. The post-mortem showed no associated abnormality. This observation corresponds to Smith's type I anatomical classification. The trajectory followed the usual route for the left-hand coronary artery, and ended in a Y junction of the rear interventricular artery and the circumflex artery. No collateral branch flowed from it: its diameter was 5mm. Vascularization of the heart was provided for by branches proceeding from the rear interventricular and circumflex arteries.