Imaging-based right-atrial anatomy by computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and three-dimensional transoesophageal echocardiography: correlations with anatomic specimens.

Abstract

Nowadays computed tomography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and tridimensional transoesophageal echocardiography provide anatomic images of right-atrial structures with an impressive richness of anatomical details. It is therefore surprising that these techniques are not routinely used as complementary tools in teaching anatomy. This review aims to fill this gap showing the normal anatomy of right atrium as displayed by these sophisticated imaging techniques. A better understanding of right-atrial anatomy is crucial for the treatment of primary right-atrium electrical disorders as well as for catheter-based interventions for structural heart disease. The success of these procedures is, in fact, related to an accurate anatomical pre-procedural assessment. In this review, we describe the normal anatomy and variants of those right-atrial structures relevant for both ablationists and interventionalists.