Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Image Acquisition Method for the Sonographic Assessment of the Inferior Vena Cava
Published on: January 13, 2023
Anomalous hepatic vein drainage into a giant left atrium
Carlos Andres Gonzalez Lengua1, Lucia Rioboo Leston2, Harvey S Hecht1
1Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA.
Abstract:
A 56-year-old man with a history of complex atrial-septal defect repair, atrial fibrillation, and severe mitral regurgitation presented with progressive shortness of breath. A cardiac CT examination was done as part of a preoperative protocol before mitral valve replacement and it showed a severely enlarged left atrium and an anomalous hepatic vein draining into the left atrium. These findings were totally unsuspected and changed the patient management, highlighting the benefit of cardiac CT beyond the coronary finding.
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