Prominent Crista Terminalis Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings

Abstract

Purpose: Prominent Crista Terminalis (PCT) is a frequent variation of the right atrium (RA) posterior wall with a pseudotumor image. The aim of this study is to evaluate PCT image characteristics and cardiac functional effects with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). Methods: Between 2016 and 2020, 140 patients (58 ±14 years) were evaluated retrospectively. PCT was measured in 2 planes with the longest thickness at the atrial end-diastole. Patients with crista terminalis thickness greater than 8 mm were evaluated. Patients were assessed by the RA, right ventricular (RV) end-diastolic diameter (ED), RV, left ventriculi (LV) ejection fraction (EF), and PCT diameter were included in the study. After the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, cases were compared with the paired student t-test. Mann-Whitney test was used for comparison of non-parametric variables. The effect of the increase in PCT diameter on the RVEF, LVEF, and RAED, RVED was investigated using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: There was no significant correlation (r<0,5) between PCT thickness and RVEF (r=0.49), LVEF (r=0,115), RAED (r=0.32), RVED (r=0.07). Fourteen patients (10%) with PCT had a history of arrhythmia. Arrhythmia was not observed in patients with PCT less than 10 mm. It was observed that the risk of arrhythmia increased with PCT thickness. Conclusion: CMR image features provided reliable data for patient management in PCT diagnosis and follow-up. There was not detected statically significant change in right and left heart functions in patients with PCT. It was observed that there was a relationship between arrhythmia incidence and PCT dimension in patients.

Keywords

• Crista Terminalis
• Right Atrial Mass
• Anatomical Variants
• Imaging Pitfalls
• Cardiac Magnetic Resonance

References

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