A case of cor triatriatum diagnosed by echocardiography on pre-anesthetic examination

A 69-year-old man was planned for elective surgery of the lumbar vertebral disk herniation. We performed a pre-anesthetic examination. He had a mild cardiomegaly (CTR = 55%) on chest X-ray examination, and ST-T change on electrocardiogram. His electrocardiogram showed negative T wave in III and aVF, ST elevation in I, aVL, V1-3, and flat T wave in V5-6. But he was without any symptoms of chest occlusion. He had no other abnormal laboratory data and abnormality in physical examination. We did echocardiography on him and cor triatriatum was diagnosed. The flow from the accessory chamber was 0.44 m.s-1. There were no abnormalities in the reflux of the pulmonary vein. We managed him under general anesthesia for operation, and took care to prevent right heart failure. There were no complications in peri-operative period. It was very important to perform pre-anesthetic examination by anesthetic specialist. Echocardiogram is useful for pre-anesthetic examination, if cardiovascular disease is suspected by chest symptom, electrocardiogram or chest X-ray examination.