Common atrium associated with anomalous high insertion of the inferior vena cava.

The case is reported of a 38-year-old housewife with a common atrium associated with anomalous high insertion of the inferior vena cava, absence of the coronary sinus, and drainage of a left hepatic vein into the left side of common atrium. Surgical repair was performed successfully. The procedure was closure of a nearly total atrial septal defect with a Dacron patch. Embroyologically, the development failure of the sinu-atrial fold appears to be the basic causal factor.