Key result
Conservative management of an LV pseudoaneurysm shows spontaneous closure and thrombosis after >6 years.
Why the study?
Echocardiographic features and long-term follow-up of left ventricular pseudoaneurysm complicating bacterial pericarditis are not well characterized.
Case Report (n=1)
This case demonstrates the utility of echocardiography in diagnosing and monitoring the spontaneous resolution of a left ventricular pseudoaneurysm complicating bacterial pericarditis over a long-term follow-up.
May support conservative echo monitoring in select LV pseudoaneurysms; leaves open generalizability of spontaneous resolution.
Two-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a pseudoaneurysm of the lateral wall of the left ventricle in a 13-year-old girl with bacterial pericarditis. The echocardiographic findings included a 5-mm discontinuity in the lateral wall of the left ventricle, an associated anechoic collection (5.6 x 5.1 cm), and a narrow communication between the left ventricle and the anechoic collection. Color Doppler imaging demonstrated flow through the communication between the left ventricle and the aneurysmal cavity. The patient and her family refused surgery. A follow-up echocardiographic examination more than 6 years later demonstrated disappearance of the discontinuity of the left ventricular lateral wall, no flow between the left ventricle and the pseudoaneurysm, and thrombus formation within the pseudoaneurysm.
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Deng et al. (2002) conducted a case report in Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm complicating bacterial pericarditis (n=1). Echocardiography was evaluated on Echocardiographic findings and follow-up of pseudoaneurysm. Echocardiography successfully diagnosed a left ventricular pseudoaneurysm, and follow-up at >6 years showed spontaneous closure of the communication and thrombus formation.
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