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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Echocardiographic Evaluation of Atrial Communications before Transcatheter Closure
Published on: February 8, 2022
Inferior sinus venosus defect associated with incomplete cor triatriatum dexter and patent foramen ovale
Arnheid Kessel-Schaefer1, Andre Linka, Rene Pretre
1Cardiology, University Hospital Basel, Petersgraben 4, 4031 Basel, Switzerland. kessela@uhbs.ch
Abstract:
Sinus venosus atrial septal defect (SVD) is a rare cardiac abnormality in adults. Particularly, the inferior type is difficult to depict by transthoracic echocardiography because of its infero-posterior location to the fossa ovalis. We describe the case of a 33-year-old woman whose chest X-ray taken during bronchopneumonia revealed a cardiomegaly. Further echocardiographic investigations showed an underlying inferior SVD, an incomplete cor triatriatum dexter and a large patent foramen ovale (PFO). The diagnosis was confirmed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and during surgical repair.
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