Gender-related differences in octogenarians with congenital coronary artery fistula: a report of two cases and a review

To highlight gender-related differences in octogenarians with a congenital coronary artery fistula (CAF).

We present two elderly female patients with a congenital fistula, a septuagenarian and a nonagenarian, and review the world literature between 1954-2010.

The septuagenarian patient presented with easy fatigability and the nonagenarian patient with acute myocardial infarction contralaterally to the fistula. Coronary angiography (CAG) demonstrated a coronary-pulmonary artery fistula (CPF). The nonagenarian patient underwent percutaneous coronary intervention of the right coronary artery. CAG revealed a CPF associated with a huge multiple aneurysmal formation. Data from 57 mainly symptomatic patients with a mean age of 75.3 years (range 70-87 years) were collected. The cohort was subdivided into female (mean age 84.3 years) and male (mean age 75.2 years) subgroups and compared with each other. Multi-origin (bilateral and multilateral) was prevalent in females, 40% versus 12% in males. Aneurysmal formation was found in females and males in 40% and 18%, respectively. Ethnicity was 65% Caucasian and 35% Asian. Multi-origin fistulas were prevalent in the Asian (45%) compared with the Caucasian (11%) subset.

A septuagenarian and a nonagenarian female patient with congenital CAF are presented. On reviewing the literature, important differences were found between elderly females and males with congenital CAF.