Echocardiographic diagnosis of congenital absence of the pericardium in a patient with VATER association defects.

The VATER association denotes a nonrandom pattern of congenital malformations which typically include vertebral defects, anal atresia, tracheo-esophageal fistula, and radial and renal dysplasia. Vascular anomalies including ventricular septal defect and single umbilical artery have also been described, although the frequency of cardiovascular anomalies in this congenital association is unknown. In this report, we describe a 26-year-old patient with several VATER association defects who, in addition, was found to have congenital absence of the left pericardium and an aberrant right subclavian artery.