Highlights the utility of multimodality imaging (echocardiography and CT) in diagnosing left atrial compression caused by thoracic spine deformity following blunt trauma.
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Consider extrinsic LA compression in unexplained echo findings; leaves open systematic study of post-traumatic effects.
We present an adult female in whom two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated encroachment of the thoracic spine on the left atrium (LA) resulting in a very small, compressed LA cavity by a prominent thoracic spine shadow. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest showed compression of the LA produced by localized anterior deformation of the thoracic spine which had resulted from blunt injury to her spine following a fall from a swing several years previously.
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Gupta et al. (2020) studied this question.
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