Cor triatriatum sinister in an elderly patient-Findings in different imaging modalities and intraoperative correlation

Cor triatriatum sinister is a rare congenital anomaly accounting for 0.1% of all congenital cardiac malformations. An incomplete incorporation of the common pulmonary vein into the left atrium is considered to be the cause of the disease. Fewer than 250 cases have been reported in the literature [Alphonso N, Norgaard MA, Newcomb A, d'Udekem Y, Brizard CR, Cochrane A. Cor triatriatum: presentation, diagnosis and long-term surgical results. Ann Thorac Surg 2005;80:1666-71], approximately 50 cases in adults [Modi KA, Senthilkumar A, Kiel E, Reddy PC. Diagnosis and surgical correction of cor triatriatum in an adult: combined use of transesophageal and contrast echocardiography, and a review of literature. Echocardiography 2006;23:506-9]. Although rare, the malformation is important to recognize because it may be easily correctable with good long-term surgical results [1]. We present the most relevant images of a woman with a classical cor triatriatum and discuss the different imaging modalities (first table of this paper).