American Journal of Internal Medicine

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Chiari Network – Just an Innocent Bystander or Can Have Serious Impact on Clinical Outcomes

Received: 04 March 2019    Accepted: 14 May 2019    Published: 30 May 2019
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Abstract

Chiari network, a remnant of sinus venosus is often incidentally diagnosed on routine echocardiograms. Chiari network occurs due to incomplete resorption of right valve of sinus venosus. It is often noticed as fenestrated membranous structure or reticular network like structure in the valve of inferior vena cava and coronary sinus. The structure was first described by Von Rokitansky in 1875 and gained its name after pathologist Hans Chiari in 1897 when he described the structure in 11 cadavers. There are inconsistencies in the exact prevalence of this structure and has been reported in literature from 2-13.6%. Most of this data is available from cadaveric or autopsied hearts. These structures are usually considered as benign congenital malformations but literature has reported various cases which have resulted in medical complications including endocarditis, thromboembolism or procedural difficulties. These structures can also mimic right atrial pathologies or thrombus creating a diagnostic challenge. It is important that clinicians are aware of these since misdiagnosis can have significant effect on clinical course and outcomes of the patients. The possibility of the presence of these congenital remnants should be kept in mind during clinical decision making. We present two clinical scenarios with incidental diagnosis of Chiari network and its effect on the clinical course of these patients.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12
Published in American Journal of Internal Medicine (Volume 7, Issue 2, March 2019)
Page(s) 33-35
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Chiari Network, Thrombus, Echocardiogram

References
[1] Clinical anatomy of the atrial septum with reference to its developmental components. Anderson RH, Webb S, Brown NA. Clin Anat 12:362–37 (1999)
[2] Schneider B, Hofmann T, Justen M. H, Meinertz T. Chiari's network: normal anatomic variant or risk factor for arterial embolic events? Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 1995;26(1):203–210. doi: 10.1016/0735-1097(95)00144
[3] Bhatnagar KP, Nettleton GS, Campbell FR, Wagner CE, Kuwabara N, Muresian H. Chiari anomalies in the human right atrium. Clin Anat. 2006;19(6):510-6.
[4] Chiari's Network: Normal Anatomic Variant or Risk Factor for Arterial Embolic Events? Brike Schneider MD, Thomas Hoffman MD, Maria H. Justen MD, Thomas Meinertz MD. Handbook of Cerebrovascular Diseases Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (2005)
[5] The Chiari Malformations. R. S. Tubbs, W. J. Oakes (eds), 5 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-6369-6_2, Springer Science + Business Media New York 2013
[6] Echocardiographic appearance of the Chiari network: differentiation from right-heart pathology. Werner JA, Cheitlin MD, Gross BW, Speck SM, Ivey TD. Circulation 1981; 63:1104-1109.
[7] Giant Chiari network mimics intracardiac tumor in a case of neurofibromatosis. Koz C, Yokusoglu M, Baysan O, Uzun M. Int J Cardiol 130:488–489 (2008)
[8] Chiari’s network: normal anatomic variant or risk factor for arterial embolic events. Schneider B, Hofmann T, Justen MH, Meinertz T. J Am Coll Cardiol 26:203–210(1995)
[9] Chiari network entrapment of thromboembolic: congenital inferior vena cava fil-ter. Goedde TA, Conetta D, Rumisek JD. Ann Thorac Surg 49:317–318(1990)
[10] Catheter entrapment in a Chiari network involving an atrial septal defect. Goldschlager A, Goldschlager N, Brewster H, Kaplan J. Chest 62:345–346(1972)
[11] Prajapat L, Ariyarajah V, Spodick DH. Abnormal atrial depolarization associated with Chiari network? Cardiology. 2007;108(3):214-6.
[12] Schwimmer-okike N, Niebuhr J, Schramek GG, Frantz S, Kielstein H. The Presence of a Large Chiari Network in a Patient with Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke. Case Rep Cardiol. 2016;2016:4839315.
[13] Pothineni K. P, Nanda N. C, Burri M. V, Singh A, Panwar S. R, Gandhari S. Live/real time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic visualization of Chiari network. Echocardiography. 2007;24(9):995–997.
[14] Altbach M. I, Squire S. W, Kudithipudi V, Castellano L, Sorrell V. L. Cardiac MRI is complementary to echocardiography in the assessment of cardiac masses. Echocardiography. 2007;24(3):286–300.
Author Information
  • Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, USA

  • Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, USA

  • Department of Medicine, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, USA

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    Anum Asif, Nauman Farooq, Tayebah Mumtaz. (2019). Chiari Network – Just an Innocent Bystander or Can Have Serious Impact on Clinical Outcomes. American Journal of Internal Medicine, 7(2), 33-35. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12

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    Anum Asif; Nauman Farooq; Tayebah Mumtaz. Chiari Network – Just an Innocent Bystander or Can Have Serious Impact on Clinical Outcomes. Am. J. Intern. Med. 2019, 7(2), 33-35. doi: 10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12

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    AMA Style

    Anum Asif, Nauman Farooq, Tayebah Mumtaz. Chiari Network – Just an Innocent Bystander or Can Have Serious Impact on Clinical Outcomes. Am J Intern Med. 2019;7(2):33-35. doi: 10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12,
      author = {Anum Asif and Nauman Farooq and Tayebah Mumtaz},
      title = {Chiari Network – Just an Innocent Bystander or Can Have Serious Impact on Clinical Outcomes},
      journal = {American Journal of Internal Medicine},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {33-35},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajim.20190702.12},
      abstract = {Chiari network, a remnant of sinus venosus is often incidentally diagnosed on routine echocardiograms. Chiari network occurs due to incomplete resorption of right valve of sinus venosus. It is often noticed as fenestrated membranous structure or reticular network like structure in the valve of inferior vena cava and coronary sinus. The structure was first described by Von Rokitansky in 1875 and gained its name after pathologist Hans Chiari in 1897 when he described the structure in 11 cadavers. There are inconsistencies in the exact prevalence of this structure and has been reported in literature from 2-13.6%. Most of this data is available from cadaveric or autopsied hearts. These structures are usually considered as benign congenital malformations but literature has reported various cases which have resulted in medical complications including endocarditis, thromboembolism or procedural difficulties. These structures can also mimic right atrial pathologies or thrombus creating a diagnostic challenge. It is important that clinicians are aware of these since misdiagnosis can have significant effect on clinical course and outcomes of the patients. The possibility of the presence of these congenital remnants should be kept in mind during clinical decision making. We present two clinical scenarios with incidental diagnosis of Chiari network and its effect on the clinical course of these patients.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    T1  - Chiari Network – Just an Innocent Bystander or Can Have Serious Impact on Clinical Outcomes
    AU  - Anum Asif
    AU  - Nauman Farooq
    AU  - Tayebah Mumtaz
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajim.20190702.12
    T2  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
    JF  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
    JO  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    AB  - Chiari network, a remnant of sinus venosus is often incidentally diagnosed on routine echocardiograms. Chiari network occurs due to incomplete resorption of right valve of sinus venosus. It is often noticed as fenestrated membranous structure or reticular network like structure in the valve of inferior vena cava and coronary sinus. The structure was first described by Von Rokitansky in 1875 and gained its name after pathologist Hans Chiari in 1897 when he described the structure in 11 cadavers. There are inconsistencies in the exact prevalence of this structure and has been reported in literature from 2-13.6%. Most of this data is available from cadaveric or autopsied hearts. These structures are usually considered as benign congenital malformations but literature has reported various cases which have resulted in medical complications including endocarditis, thromboembolism or procedural difficulties. These structures can also mimic right atrial pathologies or thrombus creating a diagnostic challenge. It is important that clinicians are aware of these since misdiagnosis can have significant effect on clinical course and outcomes of the patients. The possibility of the presence of these congenital remnants should be kept in mind during clinical decision making. We present two clinical scenarios with incidental diagnosis of Chiari network and its effect on the clinical course of these patients.
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