Unilateral Pulmonary Edema in a Patient with Worsening Tricuspid Valve Regurgitation: A Secret Inside Pulmonary Veins

We present the case of a 69-year-old patient who was referred to the Department of Echocardiography for surgical treatment of severe tricuspid valve regurgitation (TVR) with advanced congestive heart failure. In 2013 the patient underwent unsuccessful percutaneous ablation for permanent atrial fibrillation. In 2015, following numerous episodes of atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure with left pleural effusion, the patient was admitted to another center. A transthoracic echocardiogram showed severe TVR and moderate precapillary pulmonary hypertension, confirmed at right cardiac catheterization. He showed bilateral ankle swelling, mild systolic cardiac murmur and localized leftmost decreased breath sounds. Chest X-ray revealed left-sided pulmonary edema and ipsilateral large pleural effusion. Following percutaneous drainage of the left pulmonary effusion, the patient underwent transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), confirming severe TVR due to annular dilation, severe pulmonary hypertension (60 mmHg) and right ventricular overload. At TEE, we found a narrowed single left pulmonary vein. Coronary artery angiography showed no critical stenosis. The patient underwent cardiac magnetic resonance and Angiography that confirmed ostial stenosis of a single left pulmonary vein. We performed successful bare-metal stent implantation. After the procedure, we observed progressive improvement in the patient's clinical condition, concomitant with reverse pulmonary hypertension, significant TVR reduction and chest X-ray normalization. This is a rare case of unilateral pulmonary edema following percutaneous ablation of atrial fibrillation.