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European Journal of Echocardiography Advance Access originally published online on August 30, 2008
European Journal of Echocardiography 2009 10(1):160-162; doi:10.1093/ejechocard/jen226
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Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2008. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Obliteration of left superior caval vein draining to the left atrium during spontaneous closure of ventricular septal defect

Juan Pablo Kaski*, Joanne Wolfenden and Alan Magee

Department of Paediatric Cardiology, Royal Brompton Hospital, Sydney Street, London SW3 6NP, UK

Received 15 July 2008; accepted after revision 1 August 2008; online publish-ahead-of-print 30 August 2008.

* Corresponding author. Tel: +44 20 7352 8121, Fax: +44 20 7351 8503. Email address: j.kaski{at}ucl.ac.uk


  Abstract

Persistent left-sided superior caval veins (SVC) are present in 0.4% of the population. In the majority of cases, the persistent left SVC drains into the right atrium via the coronary sinus, but direct connection to the left atrium is also recognized. Previous reports have described re-opening of persistent left SVCs in patients with congenital heart disease following bidirectional cavopulmonary connection or Fontan-type procedures, suggesting that the lumen of the left SVC obliterates during embryological development, rather than disappears. The case described in this report is, to our knowledge, the first description of obliteration of the left SVC in post-natal life, associated with spontaneous closure of a ventricular septal defect. Our observation lends further support to the hypothesis that venous structures obliterate but do not completely disappear in foetal life.

Keywords: Echocardiography; Left superior vena cava; Paediatric; Congenital heart disease


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