SIGNIFICANCE OF ATRIAL SEPTAL ANEURYSM - REPORT OF A CASE

Postoperative stroke can have many etiologies including cerebral throm bosis, embolism, and hemorrhage. If there is a right-to-left intracard iac shunt, paradoxical embolism may also occur. Atrial septal aneurysm has been diagnosed with increasing frequency because of the accuracy of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Atrial septal aneurysm is a lso associated with patent foramen ovale and atrial septal defects. We report a case of a patient who developed a postoperative stroke one d ay after coronary artery bypass surgery. TEE performed in the intensiv e care unit revealed an atrial septal aneurysm with a right-to-left in teratrial shunt, which may have resulted in paradoxical systemic embol ism. (C) 1996 by Elsevier Science Inc.