AUTHOR=Abou Sherif Sara , Ozden Tok Ozge , Taşköylü Özgür , Goktekin Omer , Kilic Ismail Dogu TITLE=Coronary Artery Aneurysms: A Review of the Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine VOLUME=4 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2017.00024 DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2017.00024 ISSN=2297-055X ABSTRACT=

Coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs) are uncommon and describe a localized dilatation of a coronary artery segment more than 1.5-fold compared with adjacent normal segments. The incidence of CAAs varies from 0.3 to 5.3%. Ever since the dawn of the interventional era, CAAs have been increasingly diagnosed on coronary angiography. Causative factors include atherosclerosis, Takayasu arteritis, congenital disorders, Kawasaki disease (KD), and percutaneous coronary intervention. The natural history of CAAs remains unclear; however, several recent studies have postulated the underlying molecular mechanisms of CAAs, and genome-wide association studies have revealed several genetic predispositions to CAA. Controversies persist regarding the management of CAAs, and emerging findings support the importance of an early diagnosis in patients predisposed to CAAs, such as in children with KD. This review aims to summarize the present knowledge of CAAs and collate the recent advances regarding the epidemiology, etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this disease.