title: Giant left atrium needed negative pressure ventilation.
abstract: Giant left atrium (GLA) is seen in a variety of cardiac conditions. The GLA is diagnosed by combining the patient's history, physical examination, and imaging techniques, along with a computed tomographic chest scan, echocardiogram, and barium swallow test. We recently operated on a severely symptomatic 71-year-old woman with GLA (135 mm x 192 mm). We were forced to anesthetize her with negative pressure ventilation before connecting to the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit. Her postoperative course and long-term follow-up were uneventful. The procedure for GLA reduction is safe, even in very high-risk patients. Negative pressure ventilation may be used successfully as a bridge to cardiopulmonary bypass in certain cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel. erezk@bezeqint.net
authors.forename: Erez
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kachel
authors.forename: Hartzell V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Schaff
authors.forename: Fuad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moussa
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Preisman
authors.forename: Ehud
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ranani
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sternik
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D015919:Ventilators, Negative-Pressure