CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2017; 27(04): 413-416
DOI: 10.4103/ijri.IJRI_313_16
Thoracic/ Cardiac

Levoatrial cardinal vein with normal left ventricle: A forgotten cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension

Onkar B Auti
Department of Radio-diagnosis, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Varun Shetty
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Vinay Belaval
Department of Radio-diagnosis, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Vimal Raj
Department of Radio-diagnosis, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
› Author Affiliations
Financial support and sponsorship Nil.

Abstract

Levoatrial cardinal vein (LACV) is anomalous connection between left atrium or pulmonary veins and systemic veins such as innominate vein or superior vena cava. This persistence of splanchnic circulation occurs when there is left-sided obstructive cardiac lesions such as hypoplastic left heart or mitral atresia. In this report we present three cases of LACV with well-developed left heart, without any obstructive lesions. All our cases presented with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and had associated intracardiac shunt such as ventricular/atrial septal defect and supracardiac partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection. Apart from the above shunts, LACV contributed to PAH in these cases. It is important to detect and report LACV as this may require surgical correction along with other defects. If LACV goes undetected during imaging workup, it may cause persistent PAH postoperatively.



Publication History

Article published online:
27 July 2021

© 2017. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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