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Positional cyanosis in infants: an unusual presentation of right-sided cardiac masses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2005

Aviva Levitas
Affiliation:
Pediatric Cardiology Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Gil Gross
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Nili Zucker
Affiliation:
Pediatric Cardiology Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Eli Zalzstein
Affiliation:
Pediatric Cardiology Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

Abstract

Positional cyanosis is an uncommon finding in young patients. We report three infants who presented with positional cyanosis due to a pedunculated tumour in the right heart. Arterial desaturation was the result of right-to-left shunting at the level of the oval foramen caused by obstruction and/or insufficiency of the tricuspid valve. The obstruction at the level of the tricuspid valve was variable because of the pedunculated nature of the tumours, which gave them considerable mobility. Hence, the degree of right-to-left shunting was dependent on the position of the patient. In all the patients, surgical resection of the tumours resolved the cyanosis.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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