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Case Reports
. 2024 Mar 15;17(3):e259254.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2023-259254.

Aorto-atrial tunnel arising from sinus of Valsalva aneurysm in a young female

Sridevi Chigullapalli  1 , Susheel Kumar Malani  1 , Digvijay Nalawade  2 , Manisha Reddy Musuku  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Aorto-atrial tunnel arising from sinus of Valsalva aneurysm in a young female

Sridevi Chigullapalli et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

A young female patient presented with complaints of breathlessness and palpitations since 2 years. On clinical examination, there was a loud continuous murmur at the right sternal border.Transthoracic echocardiography and colour Doppler showed a tunnel-like structure originating from the aneurysmal right coronary sinus and opening into the right atrium with left to right shunt. Coronary angiography revealed a large tunnel beginning in right coronary sinus and terminating in the right atrium and right coronary artery (RCA) was seen originating from the tunnel. Cardiac catheterisation revealed normal pulmonary artery pressure. CT and 3D-reconstructed images delineated the extracardiac course of the tunnel.Various treatment modalities including percutaneous transcatheter approach and surgical treatment were taken into consideration, but because of the close proximity of RCA from the tunnel opening, surgical closure was preferred.

Keywords: Cardiovascular medicine; Radiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

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