title: Inversion of the left atrial appendage following cardiac surgery.
abstract: Inversion of the left atrial appendage is a rare complication after open-heart surgery. To our knowledge only 16 cases, besides that reported herein, have been described so far. Echocardiographically, the inverted left atrial appendage appears as a mass mimicking a thrombus, a vegetation or a tumor of the left atrium. Lack of awareness of this entity can result in a misdiagnosis and unnecessary procedures. The case here reported deals with an inverted left atrial appendage occurring in an infant after repair of an atrial septal defect.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department, Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Bari, Italy. troised@tin.it
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Troise
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Errico
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ranieri
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Civita
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mele
authors.forename: Cosimina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lasaracina
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arciprete
mesh_terms: D020517:Atrial Appendage / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004374:Ductus Arteriosus, Patent / Q000601:surgery; D004452:Echocardiography; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology