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Transesophageal echocardiography in the presence of left atrial calcification
1Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Dehli, India.
Insights
Severe left atrial calcification, often hindering transesophageal echocardiography, did not impede imaging quality in a mitral stenosis case. This suggests atrial wall calcification does not always limit transesophageal echocardiography usefulness.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Left atrial wall calcification is a rare condition.
- It is often reported to obscure intracardiac structures during transesophageal echocardiography due to the left atrium's posterior position.
Abstract:
Calcification of left atrial walls is a rare finding that has been reported to hamper visibility of intracardiac structures during transesophageal echocardiography because of the posterior location of the left atrium. We report a case of severe mitral stenosis associated with heavy left atrial calcification in which we could obtain good quality transesophageal imaging in spite of such a calcification. We conclude that calcification of left atrial walls does not necessarily imply a limitation of transesophageal echocardiography.