Tunneled Coronary Artery-A Case Series

Isolated congenital coronary artery anomalies are rare, but well described cause of sudden death. Incidence of this condition is 1–1.5% of general population and only 50% of these cases are symptomatic. The medico legal significance is that it can be associated with exercise related sudden cardiac death in apparently healthy young adults. Tunneled coronary artery is an isolated congenital coronary artery disease in which a portion of a major coronary artery goes intramurally through the myocardium for a variable distance. The present descriptive prospective study was done at department of Forensic Medicine Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. All cases brought for autopsy excluding the other causes of death were studied in detail during a period of one year from July 2009 to August 2010. Out of the 325 cases of sudden death, 120 were due to cardiac diseases and three cases showed features of tunneling of the coronary arteries. These cases were studied in detail and discussed in this case series.