Dr. Del Olmo-Arroyo is a fellow, Dr. Martinez-Recio and Dr. Cantres-Fonseca are attending physicians, and Dr. Rodriguez-Cintrón is the program director, all for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Training Program; and Dr. Soto is a resident for the Internal Medicine Program, all at the VA Caribbean Healthcare System in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Scimitar syndrome is a rare but welldescribed constellation of cardiopulmonary anomalies, accounting for 0.5% to 1% of congenital heart disease. It is a variant of PAPVR, in which part of or even the entire right lung is drained by right pulmonary veins that connect anomalously to the IVC. Although a diagnosis can be made by chest radiograph, further imaging is needed to corroborate the diagnosis and demonstrate other associated abnormalities.
Additional tests have been described in the literature, but these procedures are not available in all facilities and may incur a higher cost. Therefore, CT angiographic reconstruction is an alternative, noninvasive procedure. Surgery is the definitive treatment; however, asymptomatic patients with PAPVR and small left-to-right shunt do not require intervention.
Author disclosures The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest with regard to this article.
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