Extracardiac compression of the inferolateral branch of the coronary vein by the descending aorta in a patient with dilated cardiomyopathy

• Main Authors: Hiroki Konishi, MD, PhD, Shumpei Mori, MD, PhD, Tatsuya Nishii, MD, PhD, Yu Izawa, MD, Naoki Tamada, MD, Hidekazu Tanaka, MD, PhD, Kunihiko Kiuchi, MD, PhD, Koji Fukuzawa, MD, PhD, Ken-ichi Hirata, MD, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017-12-01
• Series: Journal of Arrhythmia
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1880427617301679
• ISSN: 1880-4276

Extracardiac structures can cause distortion of cardiac anatomy particularly in patients presenting with a significantly dilated heart, and/or thoracic deformities. We present the case of a 69-year-old woman with dilated cardiomyopathy who underwent cardiac resynchronization therapy. Preoperative electrocardiography-gated contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed the inferolateral wall of her significantly dilated and leftward-rotated heart was close to the descending aorta, and the descending aorta compressed the sandwiched inferolateral branch of the coronary vein. Retrograde coronary venography performed at the time of device implantation confirmed focal stenosis of the inferolateral branch of the coronary vein. Keywords: Cardiac resynchronization therapy, Computed tomography, Dilated cardiomyopathy