A ticking time bomb: Death caused by acute cardiac tamponade as a result of ruptured aberrant vascular tissue between the right atrium and left lung

Abstract

Direct communication between the right atrium and the left pulmonary artery is a very rare congenital vascular malformation. Clinical diagnosis of this malformation is difficult; the condition may stay silent and asymptomatic in the lifetime of a person, or it may result in death by an unexpected complication. Thus, far there is no study describing the characteristic anatomical appearance of the right atrium and the left pulmonary artery fistulation in the literature. We present here a postmortem autopsy case describing this anomaly that may have been the cause of death.