Cardiac CT of non-shunt pathology of the interatrial septum

Rojas, Carlos A.; Jaimes, Camilo E.; El-Sherief, Ahmed H.; Medina, Hector M.; Chung, Jonathan H.; Ghoshhajra, Brian; Abbara, Suhny

doi:10.1016/j.jcct.2010.10.011

« Previous Next »Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography
Volume 5, Issue 2 , Pages 93-100, March 2011

Cardiac CT of non-shunt pathology of the interatrial septum

Carlos A. Rojas, MD
- Department of Cardiac Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 165 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Corresponding author.
Camilo E. Jaimes, MD
- Universidad del Rosario, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bogota, Colombia
Ahmed H. El-Sherief, MD
- Department of Cardiac Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 165 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Hector M. Medina, MD, MPH
- Department of Cardiac Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 165 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Jonathan H. Chung, MD
- Department of Cardiac Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 165 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Brian Ghoshhajra, MD, MBA
- Department of Cardiac Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 165 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Suhny Abbara, MD
- Department of Cardiac Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 165 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA

Received 29 May 2010; accepted 18 October 2010. published online 29 October 2010.

Abstract

The development and anatomy of the interatrial septum is complex. With the increasing use of cardiac CT and its precise delineation of the anatomy, it is important for the cardiac imager to become familiar with the normal anatomic structures that compose the interatrial septum and their variants. Furthermore, it is important to recognize pathologic processes occurring in this region other than atrial septal defects and potential imaging pitfalls. This pictorial essay provides a detailed review of these topics with emphasis in CT appearance and related technical aspects.

Keywords: Interatrial septum, Interatrial septal aneurysm, Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum