Circulation. 1999;100:e73-e74
(Circulation. 1999;100:e73-e74.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.
Circulation Electronic Pages |
Interatrial Septal Defect Caused by Blunt Trauma in a Heart Donor
Alfonso Cañas, MD;
Juan Carlos Tellez, MD;
Jorge Roda, MD;
Evaristo Castedo, MD;
Juan Ugarte, MD;
Luis Alonso Pulpon, MD
From the Departments of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Cardiology (L.A.P.),
Hospital Puerta de Hierro, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
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Introduction
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 Top
 Introduction
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A50-year-old man
was accepted as a multiorgan donor. The cause
of death was
cranioencephalic trauma. No pathological antecedents
were found.
Transthoracic echocardiography showed
neither valvular
nor contractility
abnormalities. Cardiectomy was performed as
usual. A traumatic
interatrial septal defect was found in the
donor heart preparation
before transplantation (Figure 1
). It
did
not involve the foramen ovale (Figure 2
).
The donor heart
was not used. Atrial septal defect due to blunt trauma
is rare.
Only 10 cases of atrioseptal defect due to blunt trauma have
been
reported in the English-language medical literature, and this
is
the first one described in a multiorgan donor. Therefore,
it is a very
uncommon cause of exclusion of a hemodynamically
stable
heart donor. In summary, inspection of the atrial septum
in a heart
donor after cardiectomy is mandatory, especially
in countries like
Spain, where echocardiography in the heart
donor is
not always performed by an experienced
echocardiographer.
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Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Dr Alfonso Cañas, Department of Cardiothoracic
Surgery, Hospital Puerta de Hierro, C/San Martín de Porres,
4, E-28035 Madrid, Spain.
The editor of Images in Cardiovascular Medicine is Hugh A. McAllister, Jr, MD, Chief, Department of Pathology, St Luke's Episcopal Hospital and Texas Heart Institute, and Clinical Professor of Pathology, University of Texas Medical School and Baylor College of Medicine.
Circulation encourages readers to submit cardiovascular images to Dr Hugh A. McAllister, Jr, St Luke's Episcopal Hospital and Texas Heart Institute, 6720 Bertner Ave, MC1-267, Houston, TX 77030.
