Rapidly vanishing left atrial dissection following mitral valve replacement: a case report

Left atrial dissection is an extremely rare complication of mitral valve replacement. Because of its severity, its prompt diagnosis and treatment is mandatory. The most effective treatment (i.e. surgical vs. non-surgical) for left atrial dissection has not been fully established yet.

Herein, we have reported left atrial dissection after mitral valve replacement in a 68-year-old obese woman. After closing the thorax, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) revealed an atrial mass of 3 cm × 2 cm, visualized as an oval hypoechoic appearance extending from the posterior annulus of the mitral valve to the posterior wall of the left atrium. Because hemodynamic conditions were stable, surgery was ruled out and conservative treatment with close observation was selected. On postoperative day 2, TEE revealed that the atrial mass had vanished and the broken piece of the endocardium merely remained fluttering in the atrium. On postoperative day 6, the appearance of the left atrium was normalized completely, leaving no traces of left atrial dissection. The patient recovered uneventfully. Serial TEE was a very effective imaging modality during the non-surgical treatment of left atrial dissection.

It is crucial to accurately define diagnosis and optimally consider therapeutic strategies for left atrial dissection based on the hemodynamic conditions of the patient and serial TEE follow-up examinations. In our case study, left atrial dissection was successfully treated with conservative treatment; therefore, we believe that TEE could be a feasible modality for the early diagnosis of this condition.