Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Date
2008-10-10
Authors
Goyal, Sandeep K
Punnam, Sujeeth R
Verma, Gita
Ruberg, Frederick L
Version
OA Version
Citation
Goyal, Sandeep K, Sujeeth R Punnam, Gita Verma, Frederick L Ruberg. "Persistent left superior vena cava: a case report and review of literature" Cardiovascular Ultrasound 6:50. (2008)
Abstract
Persistent left superior vena cava is rare but important congenital vascular anomaly. It results when the left superior cardinal vein caudal to the innominate vein fails to regress. It is most commonly observed in isolation but can be associated with other cardiovascular abnormalities including atrial septal defect, bicuspid aortic valve, coarctation of aorta, coronary sinus ostial atresia, and cor triatriatum. The presence of PLSVC can render access to the right side of heart challenging via the left subclavian approach, which is a common site of access utilized when placing pacemakers and Swan-Ganz catheters. Incidental notation of a dilated coronary sinus on echocardiography should raise the suspicion of PLSVC. The diagnosis should be confirmed by saline contrast echocardiography.
Description
License
Copyright 2008 Goyal et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.