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Sonolucent Space Posterior to Left Atrium: Unusual Echocardiographic Appearance in a Cardiac Transplant Patient
Author(s) -
Malhotra Amit,
Khouzam Rami N.,
Minderman Daniel,
D'Cruz Ivan A.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
echocardiography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1540-8175
pISSN - 0742-2822
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8175.2005.40045.x
Subject(s) - left atrium , medicine , cardiology , posterior wall , atrial fibrillation
The usual echocardiographic appearances of the atria in heart transplant patients are well known. We report a case of an 81‐year‐old man with a 16‐year‐old cardiac transplant who showed a “new” echocardiographic left atrial abnormality. Two‐dimensional echocardiography showed a large sonolucent space behind the donor left atrium (DLA), which was at first perplexing. This space, the distorted and partly displaced recipient left atrium (RLA), could be shown to communicate with the donor left atrium, by the use of unconventional imaging and by optison opacification.