Multimodality imaging in the evaluation of aorta–right atrial tunnel

Aorta—right atrial tunnel is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by an extracardiac tunnel-like vascular communication arising from an aortic sinus and emptying into the right atrium (RA) (Fig. 1). We report the case of a 33-year-old man diagnosed following Streptococcus viridans endocarditis. The patient underwent successful surgical repair (Fig. 2). The proximal ostiumwas closed using a pericardial patch sutured inside the tunnel, distal to the takeoff of the left main coronary artery approximately 2 cm within the tunnel. The distal tunnel ostium was oversewn primarily in the RA. www.elsevier.com/locate/ejcts European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery 40 (2011) e153