Congenital giant left atrial appendage aneurysm: a case report
- PDF / 3,153,444 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 65 Downloads / 233 Views
CASE REPORT
Open Access
Congenital giant left atrial appendage aneurysm: a case report Yan Chen1, Yun Mou1, Li-Jun Jiang2 and Shen-Jiang Hu3*
Abstract Background: Congenital left atrial appendage aneurysm (LAAA) is a rare cardiac anomaly with potentially serious complications, including life-threatening systemic thromboembolism, atrial tachyarrhythmia, and cardiac dysfunction. Currently, early surgical intervention is generally recommended to prevent these complications. Case presentation: We present a case of congenital giant LAAA in a female patient who successfully completed pregnancy and underwent caesarean section with no obvious complications. Surgical resection of the LAAA was performed 3 years later, at the onset of chest pain resulting from compression of adjacent cardiac structures by the LAAA. Conclusion: Surgical resection is recommended for the majority of patients with LAAA because of potential LAAArelated severe outcomes. However, clinical monitoring may be an optional strategy for asymptomatic patients without intra-atrial thrombus or other complications. Precise evaluation with echocardiography and brain magnetic resonance imaging is valuable for the subsequent management of LAAA. Keywords: Left atrial appendage aneurysm, Echocardiography, Pregnancy, Case report
Background Congenital left atrial appendage aneurysm (LAAA) is a rare cardiac malformation that has been reported occasionally since its first description in 1960 [1]. Despite the congenital cause, clinical symptoms usually do not arise until the second to third decades of life. Some LAAA cases are detected incidentally, but most are diagnosed when patients present with palpitation, dyspnea, angina, or thromboembolic events [2–4]. Because LAAA predisposes to thromboembolism, arrhythmias, and heart failure, surgical resection is generally recommended [5]. We describe a case of a 36 year old woman who underwent surgical resection of an LAAA after being diagnosed 3 years prior at the time of pregnancy. Case presentation A 36-year-old female patient with a history of “cardiac cyst (70 × 30 mm)” presented to our hospital for treatment of recurrent episodes of chest pain. The “cardiac cyst” was discovered 3 years earlier by echocardiography * Correspondence: [email protected] 3 Institute of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No.79, Qing-Chun Road, Hangzhou, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
when the patient experienced slight dyspnea and palpitation at 37 weeks’ gestation. At that time, the electrocardiogram was normal, and blood coagulation function tests revealed slightly increased fibrinogen and D-dimer levels (4.10 g/L and 1252 μg/L, respectively). Before parturition, these values were 4.07 g/L and 1875 μg/L, respectively. Because uterine inertia could not be resolved during natural delivery, cesarean section was performed. Delivery was successful, and the patient was asymptomatic. Annual check-ups during the following 3 years revealed no abno
Data Loading...
