Left ventricular–right atrial communication following tricuspid annuloplasty

Abstract

A 71-year-old woman was admitted for examination of a heart murmur and anemia. She had a history of mitral valve replacement and tricuspid ring annuloplasty 8 months prior to admission. A new systolic murmur was heard, and echocardiography showed a high-velocity jet originating from the left ventricular outflow tract to the right atrium and a small defect between the left ventricle and the right atrium. No periprosthetic leaks were detected in the mitral position. At operation, a communication just beneath the detached prosthetic ring at the anterior-septal commissure of the tricuspid valve, and a jet of bright red blood entering the right atrium through the defect at the atrial septum just cephalad to the commissure, were found. After removing the ring, the defect was closed using a mattress suture. In this case, the tricuspid annuloplasty ring was probably placed on the atrio-ventricular portion of the membranous septum, rather than the tricuspid annulus, at the antero-septal commissure of the tricuspid valve in the previous operation, and its dehiscence may have created a tear in the atrio-ventricular membranous septum, leading to left ventricular-right atrial communication.