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(Circulation. 2004;109:2030.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Images in Cardiovascular Medicine

Univentricular Heart

Michael S. Chen, MD; Adel Younoszai, MD; Hitinder S. Gurm, MD; Craig R. Asher, MD

From the Departments of Cardiovascular Medicine (M.S.C., H.S.G., C.R.A.) and Pediatric Cardiology (A.Y.), The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. Dr Asher is currently at the Cleveland Clinic, Weston, Fla.

Correspondence to Craig Asher, MD, Department of Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 2950 Cleveland Clinic Blvd, Weston, FL 33331. E-mail asherc@ccf.org

An extract of the first 100% of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

At birth, this patient was diagnosed with inoperable complex congenital cyanotic heart disease. With her short life expectancy, she was sent to Symi Island, Greece, to live with her grandparents. Surprisingly, she grew up without significant limitations and returned to the United States at age 10 years. She is now 73 years old and has had 3 children. Transthoracic echocardiogram (Figure) illustrates a univentricular heart with double-inlet left ventricle. The left atrium and right atrium empty into one ventricle. Severe subvalvular pulmonic stenosis and levo-transposition of the great vessels are present. She has never had cardiac surgery. We believe she is the oldest living patient with an uncorrected single ventricle. Her longevity is partly due to subvalvular pulmonic stenosis, which has protected her pulmonary circulation from volume overload. She is mildly hypoxic with room air oxygen saturation of 84%, but overall, continues to do well.

View larger version (171K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Univentricular heart. Transthoracic echocardiogram (apical window) illustrates the left atrium (LA) and right atrium (RA), with the accompanying mitral and tricuspid valves, respectively, emptying into a single ventricle (left ventricle; LV).

The editor of Images in Cardiovascular Medicine is Hugh A. McAllister, Jr, MD, Chief, Department of Pathology, St Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and Texas Heart Institute, and Clinical Professor of Pathology, University of Texas Medical School and Baylor College of Medicine.

Circulation encourages readers to submit cardiovascular images to the Circulation Editorial Office, St Luke’s Episcopal Hospital/Texas Heart Institute, 6720 Bertner Ave, MC1-267, Houston, TX 77030.