Congenital absence of left atrial appendage: A case report and literature review

Congenital absence of left atrial appendage (LAA) is an extremely rare entity. A 50-year-old man with no past cardiac history was admitted with symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF). Before subjecting him to direct current (DC) cardioversion, the patient underwent a transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination, but neither LAA nor a cardiac thrombus could be detected. Absence of both was confirmed by cardiac computer tomography (CT) and a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. The patient reverted to sinus rhythm with an uneventful synchronized biphasic DC shock of 100 joules.