The use of 3D transthoracic echocardiography can help differentiate normal anatomical variants like a prominent crista terminalis from pathological right atrial masses, avoiding unnecessary invasive testing.
3D TTE may distinguish crista terminalis variants from RA masses; leaves open routine adoption without prospective validation.
The crista terminalis and Eustachian ridge are normal anatomical structures within the right atrium that are not normally looked for or visualised in the standard views obtained while performing a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE). In this case report, the prominent terminal ridge (a normal anatomical variant) appeared as a "mass" in the right atrium that needed to be differentiated from a pathological cardiac mass. Identification of physiological structures in the right atrium on TTE using additional 3D imaging can avoid unnecessary additional tests that are both more invasive and expensive such as transesophageal echocardiography or MRIs.
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McKay et al. (2006) studied this question.
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