Bronchogenic Cyst in the Left Atrium Combined with Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava: The First Case in the Literature

3Department of Pathology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C. e report on the clinical data, radiology images, and findings at surgery of the first left atrial bronchogenic cyst in the literature. Combined persistent left superior vena cava (SVC) with intracardiac bronchogenic cyst is unique. A 68-year-old woman with bronchiectasis was incidentally found on a chest CT scan to have an intracardiac bronchogenic cyst. Though it is difficult preoperatively to diagnosis this disorder, a complete differential diagnostic list for a cystic lesion inside the heart chambers should include bronchogenic cyst as a possibility. Intracardiac bronchogenic cysts are exceedingly rare with only three cases reported in the literature. Furthermore, no bronchogenic cyst inside the left atrium has been documented. Combined persistent left SVC with intracardiac bronchogenic cyst also is unique. We report such a case based on CT and MRI. Animation of the cardiac cycle from an MRI cardiac functional study and the hemodynamic change associated with the lesion are presented. The possible embryologic explanation also is discussed.