title: Congenital giant aneurysm of the left atrial appendage mimicking pericardial absence case report.
abstract: A 25-year-old man was found to have an abnormal cardiac contour on a chest radiograph, and was referred. Transesophageal echocardiography suggested herniation of the left atrial appendage (LAA) through a gap in the pericardium, and magnetic resonance imaging indicated congenital partial absence of the pericardium. Cardiac dysfunction was caused by compression from the enlarged left atrium and thrombi were thought to be present in the appendage, so surgery was performed. The intraoperative diagnosis was congenital LAA aneurysm. Although distinguishing between congenital LAA aneurysm and congenital absence of the pericardium is reported to be possible with magnetic resonance imaging, we were unable to so in this case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Yokohama Seibu Hospital, St Marianna University, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kunishima
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Musha
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kongoji
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: So
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murayama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006322:Heart Aneurysm / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010496:Pericardium / Q000002:abnormalities