We assessed the effect of anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery on the risk of early and late postoperative events after aortic or mitral valve replacement in adults.

Between 2005 and 2022, 29,579 adults underwent surgical aortic or mitral valve replacement at Cleveland Clinic. Among these, 29 had an unrepaired coronary artery rising anomalously from the aorta that was not intervened upon during valve surgery, 19 (65%) an anomalous circumflex, and 9 (31%) an anomalous right. Operative outcomes were compared between the 29 patients with anomalous coronary arteries and 87 balancing score (1:3) matched patients with normal coronary origin. Median follow-up was 6.5 years.

Among matched groups, major morbidity and mortality 24% (n = 7) in patients with anomalous coronaries and 20% (n = 17) among patients with normal coronary origin (P = .7). Ten-year freedom from coronary reintervention was 83% versus 100% (P[log-rank] = .005), and 10-year survival was 59% versus 53% (P[log-rank] = .8). One patient experienced a coronary injury from valve surgery, in which the incidentally found anomalous retroaortic circumflex was immediately repaired without further complication. There was no coronary reintervention after discharge in the normal coronary origin group and three in the anomalous coronary group; however, only one of these patients required intervention on the anomalous coronary.

Anomalous coronaries were uncommon in surgical valve replacement patients at a high-volume centre. The origin and course of each coronary should be assessed before valve replacement. With careful planning, valve replacement does not result in a significantly higher prevalence of postoperative ischaemia, mortality, or reintervention.