You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Image challenge
An unusual structure on transthoracic echocardiography
  1. Abhishek Thakur,
  2. Anish Kapil,
  3. Nirmal Ghati
  1. Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Delhi, India
  1. Correspondence to Dr Nirmal Ghati, Department of Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Center, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Delhi 110029, India; nirmal.cmc{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2021-320576

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Clinical introduction

    A man in his 50s presented to the emergency department with recurrent syncope. His medical history was notable for diabetes mellitus and hypertension. ECG showed a complete heart block with a ventricular escape rate of 30 beats per minute. Transvenous temporary pacemaker was inserted. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) showed severe left ventricular dilation and systolic dysfunction, ejection fraction of 30%. A modified apical four-chamber view showed an unexpected structure (figure 1, online supplemental video).

    Supplementary video

    [heartjnl-2021-320576supp001.mp4]
    Figure 1

    Transthoracic echocardiogram in the apical four-chamber view with a slight anterior angulation. Unexpected finding denoted by the white arrow.

    Question

    What is the structure shown in figure 1?

    1. Echogenic artefact

    2. Calcified coronary artery

    3. Retroaortic anomalous coronary artery

    4. Aortic valve calcification

    Answer

    C. Retroaortic anomalous coronary artery …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Twitter @akapil15, @Nirmal Ghati @GhatiNirmal

    • Contributors AT and AK conceptualised the manuscript and wrote the draft. NG and AT were involved in revision of the manuscript and patient care. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript at all stages.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.