An esophageal food bolus can cause acute heart failure via left atrial compression, which is rapidly reversible with endoscopic fragmentation.
Highlights rare reversible acute HF from esophageal bolus via LA compression; leaves open systematic evaluation of this mechanism.
We report a case of left atrial extrinsic compression caused by an esophageal food bolus in a patient presenting with acute heart failure. Transthoracic echocardiography along with contrast-enhanced CT showed evidence of esophageal dilation producing left atrial compression. Esophageal endoscopy and fragmentation of the bolus, allowing the accumulated food to descend into the stomach, produced a rapid improvement of hemodynamic and clinical status.
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Maffè et al. (2017) studied this question.
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