Left atrial inferior vena cava with atrial septal defect

Inferior Vena Cava Draining Into the Left Atrial Cavity Due to Atrial Septal Defect: Two Atypical Presentations

The inferior vena cava draining to the left atrium is a rare congenital anomaly. Patients usually present with hypoxia and dyspnoea. This condition is usually diagnosed by echocardiography and sometimes by CT scan. Here we report two cases that presented with normal saturation and their surgical management.

'Natural Conduit' between two atria associated with atrial septal defect

Herein, we present a case of 46 years old woman with an extracardiac venous connection between two atria associated with secundum type atrial septal defect (ASD). This interatrial tunnel was not recognized by both transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiographic examinations. Computed tomography suspected a blood flow from right inferior pulmonary vein to inferior caval vein. Consequently, the patient underwent cardiac catheterization. Angiography revealed a tunnel between left and right atrium. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a case with venous tunnel between two atria associated with secundum type ASD in the literature.

Drainage of the inferior vena cava to the left atrium

Drainage of the inferior vena cava to the left atrium is an extremely unusual congenital heart disease. We describe a 54-year-old woman, in whom the diagnosis was suggested by transthoracic echocardiography, and then confirmed by a transesophageal exam and magnetic resonance imaging, which also revealed an associated secundum atrial septal defect. Surgical management involved reconstruction of the interatrial septum to include the inferior vena cava in the right atrium. The few previously reported cases in the literature are reviewed.

Anomalous connection of inferior vena cava to the left atrium

A 3-year-old symptomatic girl was diagnosed, using contrast echocardiography, as having an anomalous connection of inferior vena cava to the left atrium. Contrast material was injected in a peripheral foot vein, the diagnosis was confirmed by color Doppler flow echocardiography and cardiac catheterization. The defect was corrected and the patient is asymptomatic at this time.

Anomalous drainage of the inferior vena cava into a left atrial connection: a case report involving a 41-year-old man

A 41-year-old man had an anomalous inferior vena cava directly connected to the left atrium demonstrated by contrast echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, angiography, and at operation. The anomaly is due to developmental failure of the right sinus venosus valve, septum secundum, and dorsal portion of the atrial septum.

Use of contrast echocardiography in diagnosis of anomalous connection of right superior vena cava to left atrium

A 4-month-old infant with cyanosis but without other abnormal cardiac findings is presented in whom the diagnosis of anomalous systemic venous connection to the left atrium was made by contrast echocardiography. The diagnosis was later confirmed by cardiac catheterisation and selective cineangiography. When saline was injected into a vein on the dorsum of each hand while echocardiographically recording the cardiac structures, the left atrium, left ventricle, and aorta were opacified without visualisation of the right ventricle. Similar study with injection into the right foot produced opacification of the right ventricle without visualisation of the left-sided structures. These data suggested normal drainage of the inferior vena cava with anomalous connection of the superior vena cava to the left atrium. A review of the previously reported cases of anomalous connection of the right superior vena cava to the left atrium is presented together with the possible embryological origin of this anomaly.