Open Journal of Radiology, 2014, 4, 9-12
Published Online March 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojrad
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojrad.2014.41002
How to cite this paper: Bamoshmoosh, M., Fanfani, F. and Volpe, C. (2014) Vieussens’ Arterial Ring Visualized by MDCT.
Open Journal of Radiology, 4, 9-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojrad.2014.41002
Vieussens’ Arterial Ring Visualized by MDCT
Mohamed Bamoshmoosh
1,2*
, Fabio Fanfani
1
, Cecilia Volpe
1
1
Radiology Department, Fanfani Clinical Research Institute, Florence, Italy
2
Cardiology Department, University of Science and Technology, Sana’a, Yemen
Email:
*
bamoshmoosh@hotmail.it
Received 13 May 2013; revised 5 August 2013; accepted 15 August 2013
Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Here we present the case of a patient studied with multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT).
Due to a severe three-vessel coronary artery disease he underwent coronary artery by-pass graft
surgery. Two years later because of dyspnea and chest pain he was referred to have coronary
computed tomography angiogram. We describe the coronary artery findings as well as the pres-
ence of a Vieussens’ arterial ring, which is not commonly visualized by traditional angiography. In
the medical literature Vieussens’ arterial ring cases described by MDCT are extremely rare. This
case shows how MDCT can be crucial in correctly understanding the anatomy of coronary artery
disease patients.
Keywords
Coronary Artery Disease; Vieussens’ Arterial Ring; MDCT
1. Introduction
The presence of ipsilateral or contralateral coronary circulation is important to characterize patients with coro-
nary artery disease (CAD) and is useful in deciding their management. For this reason during traditional coro-
nary angiography it is necessary to carefully look for the coronary collateral circulation even if this prolongs the
radiological exposure of the patient.
Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) does not explore the coronary collateral circulation dynami-
cally and, due to its limited spatial resolution, is unable to visualize sub-millmetric collaterals.
There are however cases where the coronary collateral circulation had enough time to become a well devel-
oped epicardial vessel that can be seen even with MDCT. In these cases the coronary collateral circulation acts
as a real arterious by-pass that fills the vessel distal to the occlusion or severe stenosis.
One of these coronary collateral circulations is the Vieussens’ arterial ring (VAR). VAR is an infrequent col-
*
Corresponding author.