The most common abnormalities of the venae cavae, the major veins returning venous blood to the right side of the heart, are a persistent left superior vena cava (normally there is only one superior vena cava opening to the right side of the heart) and an abnormal connection of the inferior vena cava to the heart.
Although persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) itself is a common venous anomaly in congenital heart disease, PLSVC with absent right superior vena cava (RSVC) is a rare venous congenital malformation.
In case reports and small series, the coexistence of a persistent left superior vena cava (LSVC) and extra-cardiac anomalies has been noted.
The authors present an alternative use of coronary sinus guide catheters designed for cardiac resynchronization therapy to help achieve the usually complex implantation of a dual chamber permanent pacemaker via a persistent left superior vena cava when conventional pacing techniques and right-sided implantation have failed.
persistent left superior vena cava.
Detection of persistent left superior vena cava by two-dimensional contrast echocardiography.
Kusaka et al. report a case of persistent left superior vena cava.
On the left side a persistent left superior vena cava is seen draining into the coronary sinus (d), which is enlarged, too.
We describe a patient with a previously undiagnosed partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection along with a persistent left superior vena cava scheduled for routine coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG).
Barac, YD, Megna, DJ, Castleberry, AW, Schroder, JN, Daneshmand, MA, Rogers, JG, Patel, CB, Podgoreanu, M, and Milano, CA. "Transplanting a heart with a persistent left superior vena cava". The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 157, no. 2 (February 2019): 630-631.
