A 50-year-old woman, diagnosed with severe rheumatic mitral stenosis, was referred for transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) study. Transesophageal echocardiogram was done to confirm suitability for percutaneous balloon valvotomy and to look for any evidence of thrombus in left atrial appendage (LAA). TEE evaluation followed by CT scan and MRI modality confirmed the patient having congenital absence of LAA – a rare occurrence with less than 25 reports in literature.

Background: Cardiac Sympathetic Denervation (CSD) involves surgical removal of lower half of the stellate ganglion and the T1-T4 ganglia for reducing sympathetic discharge to the heart. CSD is a useful therapeutic option in patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) when they are non-responsive to standard drug therapy or catheter ablation. We report here the clinical profile and long-term outcome of all our patients who underwent CSD for refractory VT or VT storm. Method: Data of all patients who underwent CSD from 2010 to 2019 was analysed. They were regularly followed up, focusing on arrhythmia recurrence. Complete response to CSD was defined as more than 75% decrease in the frequency of VT. Results: A total of 65 patients (50 male, 15 female) underwent CSD in the above-mentioned period and the duration of follow-up was 27±24 months. The underlying substrate was for VT was coronary artery disease in 30 (46.2%) patients and 35 (53.8%) patients had a variety of other causes. Complete response to CSD was attained in 47 (72.3%) patients. There was a significant decline in the incidence of number shocks after CSD (24±37 vs 2±4; p <0.01). Freedom from a combined end point of ICD shock or death at the end of two years was 51.5%. Advanced NYHA class (III and IV) was the only parameter shown to have significant association with this combined end point. Conclusion: The current retrospective analysis reemphasize the role of surgical CSD in the treatment of patients with refractory VT or VT storm.

Here we present a young asymptomatic male incidentally diagnosed to have aortic regurgitation (AR). The patient had a history of a blunt trauma to the thorax two years back but did never have any symptoms. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a moderately dilated left ventricle with normal systolic function and severe AR with normal nondilated aortic root and tri-leaflet aortic valve. To diagnose the etiology of the AR a trans-esophageal echocardiogram (TEE) was done, which revealed a perforation in the non-adjacent leaflet (NAL) and confirmed severe AR with two AR jets being clearly visualised, one through the point of incomplete coaptation and other one through the perforated area in the NAL. The patient was treated with aortic valve replacement and was doing well on follow-up.