McGregor Pei-Chun, Temtanakitpaisan Yutthapong, Hiltbolt Aimee, Aragam Jayashri R
Department of Cardiology, Boston Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, West Roxbury, MA, USA.
Department of Cardiology, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA, USA.
Echocardiography. 2017 Oct;34(10):1524-1530. doi: 10.1111/echo.13655. Epub 2017 Aug 7.
Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm (SVA) is a rare but potentially serious condition. Proper and timely diagnosis is crucial to the outcome of patients, particularly when rupture has occurred. Echocardiography is often the initial diagnostic imaging modality of choice as it is ubiquitous, relatively inexpensive, and without need for radiation or iodinated contrast administration. There are several congenital abnormalities that can appear similar to SVA on echocardiography, making the diagnosis challenging especially if providers are unfamiliar with these conditions. Here, we present a case series of three patients with SVA, representing a wide spectrum ranging from a young man presenting with acute rupture and decompensated heart failure to an elderly asymptomatic male with an incidental unruptured aneurysm. We will also present a brief literature overview and our approach to differentiating SVA from other congenital abnormalities on echocardiography.
