Why the study?
CLAAA is a rare congenital anomaly causing significant complications, making early recognition via fetal echocardiography crucial for delivery planning, postnatal assessment, and timely surgical resection.
Early recognition of congenital left atrial appendage aneurysm via fetal echocardiography allows for timely postnatal surgical intervention before severe complications arise.
Fetal echocardiography aids pre-delivery CLAAA planning; leaves open optimal surveillance and resection timing in this rare anomaly.
Congenital left atrial appendage aneurysm (CLAAA) is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly that can lead to significant cardiac and systemic complications. Early recognition through fetal echocardiographic scanning is crucial for establishing a comprehensive management plan prior to delivery, including baseline postnatal assessment and close follow-up to allow timely surgical resection before the development of severe local or systemic complications such as heart failure or thromboembolism. We report a case of giant CLAAA initially suspected as a fetal cardiac mass on routine obstetric ultrasound, which was subsequently characterized in detail by fetal echocardiography at our institution. The diagnosis was later confirmed postnatally by transthoracic echocardiography and computed tomography. When the patient developed atrial tachycardia, surgical resection of the aneurysm was performed successfully before the onset of any disabling systemic complications.
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Algonaid et al. (2025) studied this question.
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