The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
2011 , Vol 53 , Num 5
Isolated Pericardial Agenesis Revealed by Bradycardia and Heart MRI in a Healthy 5-Year-Old Child
1Department of Pediatric Sciences, 2Section of Pediatric Cardiology, 3Department of Bioimaging and Radiological Sciences,
and 4Department of Cardiology, Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
We present a five-year-old boy with an unremarkable medical history who
was incidentally found to have bradycardia and electrocardiographic signs of
right axial deviation. Initial echocardiogram showed left displacement of the
cardiac apex with slight enlargement of the right ventricle, while frontal chest
radiograph showed a lucent area between the aorta and pulmonary artery.
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging finally revealed a partial left pericardial
agenesis and abnormal displacement of the heart into the left hemithorax.
Keywords :
pericardial agenesis, magnetic resonance imaging, child.