title: Asymptomatic post-rheumatic giant left atrium.
abstract: A 78-year-old asymptomatic woman was referred to our clinic for a second opinion regarding indication for mitral valve surgery. An echocardiogram showed a moderate mitral stenosis with a concomitant severe regurgitation. The most striking feature, however, was a giant left atrium with a parasternal anteroposterior diameter of 79 mm and a left atrial volume index of 364 mL/m². There are various echocardiographic definitions of a giant left atrium, which are mainly based on measurements of the anteroposterior diameter of the left atrium using M-mode in the parasternal long axis view. Since the commonly accepted method for echocardiographic evaluation of left atrial size is left atrial volume index, we propose a cut-off value of 140 mL/m(2) for the definition of a "giant left atrium".
authors.affiliation: Tardu Özkartal, Felix C Tanner, Clinic of Cardiology, University Heart Center, University Hospital Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Tardu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Özkartal
authors.affiliation: Tardu Özkartal, Felix C Tanner, Clinic of Cardiology, University Heart Center, University Hospital Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Felix C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.affiliation: Tardu Özkartal, Felix C Tanner, Clinic of Cardiology, University Heart Center, University Hospital Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niemann
keywords: Atrium; Giant; Left; Mitral; Postrheumatic; Regurgitation; Stenosis; Valve