Incidence and clinical significance of interatrial shunting in patients with atrial septal aneurysm detected by contrast transesophageal echocardiography

Cardiac CT angiography beyond the coronary arteries: what radiologists need to know and why they need to know it

OBJECTIVE

With current state-of-the-art CT combining fast scanning times and high spatial resolution, anatomy beyond the coronary arteries is well visualized and may lead to discovery of abnormalities. The purpose of this article is to provide a strategy for radiologists to recognize important extracoronary cardiac CT angiography (CTA) findings.

CONCLUSION

A systemic approach to cardiac CTA by anatomic location and attention to key CT features are critical to identify and properly characterize important extracoronary cardiac abnormalities.

Headache and cardiovascular disease: old symptoms, new proposals

Evidence of a link between headache symptoms and cardiovascular disease has rapidly grown in recent years and it is of utmost importance for the cardiologist and neurologist to be aware of this intimate connection. A brief overview of different cardiovascular diseases (namely hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defects, atrial septal aneurisms, mitral valve prolapse, and aortic and carotid disease) that may be related to headache is presented in this article. Proposed pathophysiological mechanisms for this association and landmark studies are reviewed and discussed.

Cardiac Septal Aneurysm Mimicking Pseudomass: Appearance on ECG-Gated Cardiac MRI and MDCT

OBJECTIVE

Cardiac septal aneurysms in adults are diagnosed when the interatrial or interventricular septal membrane deviates more than 10-15 mm to either side in the cardiac chamber. Routine non-ECG-gated chest CT does not have sufficient temporal and spatial resolution for adequate characterization of such an entity. We report the imaging findings of cardiac septal aneurysms depicted in two patients with ECG-gated cardiac MRI and in a third with ECG-gated cardiac 64-MDCT. Each aneurysm was initially believed to be a cardiac tumor on the basis of the appearance on non-ECG-gated chest CT or MRI.

CONCLUSION

Nonopacified blood can fill a cardiac septal aneurysm and mimic a pseudomass. It is important that radiologists recognize such an entity on chest CT and MRI because of the association with intracardiac shunting and stroke and to avoid misdiagnosis of an aneurysm as a cardiac tumor.