Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection in a 64-year-old man: a case report

Abstract

We report a 64-year-old man with incidentally found uncorrected total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC). There have been only a few case reports of untreated TAPVC diagnosed after 60 years of age. Also, this is a first case report of TAPVC in which ECG-gated CT and phase-contrast cine magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) was performed. He was referred to our hospital for the surgery of rectal cancer. He had been diagnosed to have an arterial septal defect (ASD) and persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC), and Eisenmenger's syndrome was thought to be the cause of cyanosis at first. The vertical vein in TAPVC was initially misdiagnosed as PLSVC on enhanced axial CT images reconstructed with 5-mm slice thickness with gapless. ECG-gated CT and PC-MRI were useful to confirm the diagnosis. The vertical vein in TAPVC is morphologically similar to PLSVC. This kind of abnormality would be somewhat difficult to diagnose on non-ECG-gated CT, and might be misdiagnosed as a large ASD and PLSVC.