USEFULNESS OF TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN DIAGNOSING LIPOMATOUS HYPERTROPHY OF THE ATRIAL SEPTUM WITH COMPARISON TO TRANSTHORACIC ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

Lipomatous hypertrophy of the atrial septum (LHAS) is an infrequently observed entity characterized by an unencapsulated proliferation of mature and multivacuolated adipose tissue within the interatrial septum.1-3 It has been suggested that LHAS is associated with an increased incidence of supraventricular dysrhythmias, sudden death, obesity, abnormal P waves on electrocardiography, and advanced age.1-5 Whereas initial descriptions of this entity were from autopsy studies,1-3,5 in vivo diagnosis of LHAS has been described using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).4,6-8 Recently, it was found that transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) may be superior to TTE in the detection of abnormalities associated with the atrial septum.9 Thus, we hypothesized that TEE would be a superior technique to detect LHAS in a referral population and would enable the characterization of a group of patients with this entity. © 1992.