title: Congenital absence of the left atrial appendage visualized by 3D echocardiography in two adult patients.
abstract: Congenital absence of left atrial appendage (LAA) is an extremely rare condition and its physiological consequences are unknown. We present two cases of incidental finding of a congenitally absent LAA in a 79-year-old male who presented for routine transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) to rule out intracardiac thrombus prior to placement of biventricular implantable cardioverter-defibrillator and a 54-year old female who presented for TEE prior to radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation. Characterization of patients with such an absence is important because congenitally absent LAA may be confused with flush thrombotic occlusion of the appendage. There are very few published reports of congenital absence of LAA. To our knowledge, our report is the first to demonstrate the congenital absence of LAA by 3D transesophageal echocardiography.
authors.affiliation: New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saleh
authors.affiliation: Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Revathi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Balakrishnan
authors.affiliation: Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Castillo Kontak
authors.affiliation: Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benenstein
authors.affiliation: New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York.|Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Larry A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Chinitz
authors.affiliation: Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.|Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Healthcare System, New York, New York.|Departments of Medicine and Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Donnino
authors.affiliation: Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Muhamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saric
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020517:Atrial Appendage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: 3D transesophageal echocardiography; congenital absence; left atrial appendage