Double right coronary artery or split right coronary artery?

Abstract

The prevalence of congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries (CAAs) is reported to be approximately 0.2–1.4% of the general population. Of them, The double right coronary artery (RCA) is one of the rarest coronary anomalies. Nonetheless, there is no consensus of the definition of a double RCA until now. Several concepts have been proposed in order to define what is and is not a double RCA. So far, it was been reported 37 times and in 44 cases after a comprehensive literature search through the PubMed database, using the keywords “double right coronary artery,” “duplicated right coronary artery,” “dual right coronary artery” and “split right coronary artery.” Most of the published articles (28 of 37 articles) used the name “double right coronary artery.” Nevertheless, some investigators contended that a split RCA is anatomically the same anomaly as the improperly named “double right coronary artery”. The debate between those who favor “double RCA” and those who favor “split RCA” indicate the need for a consensus regarding the nomenclature as well diagnostic criteria of such coronary anomalies. It is the time we need to reach a consensus of the nomenclature of this congenital coronary anomaly.