Abstract
Ruptured sinus Valsalva aneurysm (SVA) in a patient with tetralogy of Fallot is a very rare cardiac complication. This report describes the case of a 10-year-old Hispanic girl who presented to her cardiologist for a routine transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), which showed a ruptured sinus of Valsalva, with left-to-right shunting noted from the right cusp to the right ventricular outflow tract and pulmonic insufficiency. The patient underwent right and left heart catheterization with transesophageal echocardiography guidance and closure of the ruptured sinus of Valsalva with an Amplatzer muscular ventricular septal defect (VSD) device. Later that day, after the procedure, it was noted that the patient had a recurrence of continuous murmur. The TTE did not visualize the Amplatzer VSD device, and chest X-ray showed that the device had embolized to the right pulmonary artery. The device was successfully retrieved percutaneously. The patient returned 2 weeks later for surgical repair of a ruptured SVA and pulmonary valve replacement, which went well. This case report is the first to describe congenital rupture of a Valsalva aneurysm in a patient with tetralogy of Fallot. The conventional treatment for a ruptured sinus of Valsalva is surgical, although transcatheter approaches have been used increasingly in recent years.
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Acknowledgments
The authors’ thank John W. Bokowski, PhD, for his assistance with echo images, Ziyad M. Hijazi, MD, for performing the cardiac catheterization and reviewing the manuscript, and Michel Ilbawi, MD, for his help during surgery.
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Mithani, A.A., Polimenakos, A.C. & Santucci, B.A. Ruptured Sinus of Valsalva Found Incidentally in a Patient with Tetralogy of Fallot. Pediatr Cardiol 34, 1914–1917 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-012-0457-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-012-0457-7