Why the study?
Congenital pericardial defect is a rare and usually asymptomatic condition whose diagnosis can be challenging due to low frequency and lack of specific clinical examination findings.
Highlights the incidental diagnosis of total agenesis of the left pericardium, a rare congenital condition, using imaging during a preoperative assessment.
Highlights diagnostic challenges of this rare defect; supports CMR as gold standard while leaving optimal management undefined.
Congenital pericardial defect is a rare and usually asymptomatic condition which is classified incomplete or partial. Up to 70% of cases consist of complete absence of left pericardium. The diagnosis may be challenging due to its low frequency and absence of correlation with any specific finding on the clinical examination. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is the gold standard imaging technique for the diagnosis confirming the absence of pericardium, although other indirect signs may be seen. In partial defects, surgery is the treatment option. We present an incidental finding of total agenesis of the left pericardium in an asymptomatic 16-year-old male diagnosed in a preoperative assessment of a bone fracture.
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Iglesias et al. (2020) studied this question.
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