[Right retroauricular hematoma of late manifestation. Contribution of cardiac imaging]

P Meurin1, H Lardoux, F Thoin

  • 1Service de Cardiologie, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris.

Annales De Cardiologie Et D'Angeiologie
|November 1, 1996
PubMed

Right intrapericardial retroatrial haematomas are usually discovered in an acute context of tamponade, following cardiac surgery. The original feature of this case was the asymptomatic nature of a right retroatrial haematoma, after surgical closure of an ostium secundum atrial septal defect, with a free interval of more than 20 years between the surgical procedure and the first relatively minor symptoms, consisting of supraventricular arrhythmias. It can be difficult to determine the intra- or extra-atrial topography of a right-sided mass by transthoracic echocardiography. On the other hand, transoesophageal echocardiography and ultrafast CT can provide a precise topographic diagnosis and appear to be complementary to assess the nature of pericardial masses.

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