Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T06:38:56.985Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Symptomatic myocardial bridging: a frequently occurring coronary variation can cause severe myocardial ischaemia in affected children with underlying cardiac conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2018

Alexandra Kiess
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Marcel Vollroth
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Farhad Bakhtiary
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiac Surgery, HELIOS Clinic Siegburg, Siegburg, Germany
Hiroshi Seki
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Yamato Seiwa Hospital, Yamato, Japan
Martin Kostelka
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Milan Djukic
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University Children’s Hospital, Tiršova, Belgrade, Serbia
Ingo Daehnert
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Robert Wagner*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
*
Author for correspondence: R. Wagner, MD, PhD, Senior Physician for Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Intensive care, Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Struempellstraße 39, D-04289 Leipzig, Germany. Tel: +49 341 86525 3009; Fax: +49 341 865 1143; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Myocardial bridging is a congenital coronary artery anomaly in which the coronary artery has a partly “tunnelled” intramyocardial course. This tunnelling leads to compression of the affected vessel segment during ventricular systole. It is considered to be a benign variation of the norm in about 25% of the population caused by an aberrancy of embryologic coronary development. The bridging is also thought to cause severe cardiac conditions in a few of those affected. The series of six young patients presented here is the largest series so far to report on symptomatic myocardial bridging in children with different underlying heart diseases. All patients recently presented to our centre with signs of myocardial ischaemia. They subsequently underwent coronary angiography, which revealed myocardial bridging of the ramus interventricularis anterior. In all patients, therapy with β blockers was started to reduce heart rate and myocardial contractility. β Blocker treatment was also given in order to prolong diastole and improve coronary artery blood flow. Two patients underwent surgical exposure of the involved coronary segment: a 2-year-old boy because of recurrent, severe myocardial ischaemia in combination with a reduction of general health, changes in ST-segments, and the presence of a dilative cardiomyopathy; and a 13-year-old girl because of evidence of myocardial ischaemia during exercise testing after surviving sudden cardiac death. Surgery was successful and recovery was complete and uneventful. The presented series shows that myocardial bridging can be symptomatic and may require urgent treatment and even surgical intervention in early childhood in rare cases.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Lee, MS, Chen, CH. Myocardial bridging. An up-to-date review. J Invasive Cardiol 2015; 27: 521528.Google Scholar
2. Yetman, AT, McCrindle, BW, MacDonald, C, Freedom, RM, Gow, R. Myocardial bridging in children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy--a risk factor for sudden death. N Engl J Med 1998; 339: 12011209.Google Scholar
3. Corban, MT, Hung, OY, Eshtehardi, P, et al. Myocardial bridging: contemporary understanding of pathophysiology with implications for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. J Am Coll Cardiol 2014; 63: 23462355.Google Scholar
4. Basso, C, Thiene, G, Mackey-Bojack, S, Frigo, AC, Corrado, D, Maron, BJ. Myocardial bridging, a frequent component of the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy phenotype, lacks systemic association with sudden cardiac death. Euro Heart J 2009; 30: 16271634.Google Scholar
5. Möhlenkamp, S, Hort, W, Ge, J, Erbel, R. Update on myocardial bridging. Circulation 2002; 106: 26162622.Google Scholar
6. Colan, SD. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in childhood. Heart Fail Clin 2010; 6: 433444.Google Scholar
7. Sharma, J, Hellenbrand, W, Kleinman, C, Mosca, R. Symptomatic myocardial bridges in children: a case report with review of literature. Cardiol Young 2011; 21: 490494.Google Scholar
8. Poryo, M, Khreish, F, Schäfers, HJ, Abdul-Khaliq, H. A case of myocardial bridging as a rare cause of chest pain in children. Clin Res Cardio 2016; 105: 279281.Google Scholar
9. Daana, M, Wexler, I, Milgalter, E, Rein, AJ, Perles, Z. Symptomatic myocardial bridging in a child without hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Pediatrics 2006; 117: e333e335.Google Scholar
10. Gokalp, S, Funda, O. Clinically asymptomatic myocardial bridging in a child with familial subaortic stenosis. Cardiol Young 2014; 24: 552554.Google Scholar
11. Ergul, Y, Nisli, K, Kayserili, H, et al. Evaluation of coronary artery abnormalities in Williams syndrome patients using myocardial perfusion scintigraphy and CT angiography. Cardiol J 2012; 19: 301308.Google Scholar
12. Geyer, H, Caracciolo, G, Abe, H, et al. Assessment of myocardial mechanics using speckle tracking echocardiography: fundamentals and clinical applications. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2010; 23: 351369.Google Scholar
13. Agrawal, H, Molossi, S, Alam, M, et al. Anomalous coronary arteries and myocardial bridges: risk stratification in children using Novel cardiac catheterization techniques. Pediatr Cardiol 2017; 38: 624630.Google Scholar

Kiess et al. supplementary material

Kiess et al. supplementary material 1

Download Kiess et al. supplementary material(Video)
Video 4.8 MB