Case Report A Band That Causes Leaky Valves: Severe Mitral Regurgitation due to Left Atrial Fibrous Band—A Case Report and Literature Review Christopher Nnaoma , 1 Gurdarshan Sandhu, 1 Christoph Sossou , 1 IIan Vavilin, 2 Jose Bustillo, 1 and Anshu Garg 1 1 Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark, NJ, USA 2 St. George’s University, Grenada Correspondence should be addressed to Christopher Nnaoma; bobbyxcarry@gmail.com Received 31 October 2018; Accepted 29 January 2019; Published 19 March 2019 Academic Editor: Ertugrul Ercan Copyright © 2019 Christopher Nnaoma et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Left atrial fibrous band is a rare clinical and echocardiographic finding characterized by the presence of a fibrous band attached to the mitral valve. Diagnosis is accomplished with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), live 3D imaging, or cardiac MRI. Most patients are asymptomatic and incidental findings. However, in rare cases, an atrial fibrous band can produce symptoms such as dyspnea on exertion, fatigue, and lightheadedness secondary to mitral regurgitation (MR) which can lead to heart failure if unattended to. More serious complications such as cardioembolic phenomenon can occur. We herein report a case of a 55-year-old male with hypertension who presented with dyspnea on exertion and chest pain. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) showed mitral valve prolapse with moderate to severe mitral regurgitation. TEE showed an atrial fibrous band. Given the patient’s poor exercise tolerance, he was taken to surgery for a mitral annuloplasty. 1. Introduction The first case of left atrial fibrous band was reported in 1897 by Rollestone [1]. Left atrial fibrous bands are rare. Autopsy data suggest the prevalence of left atrial bands to be approximately 2% [2]. Its association with MR is exceedingly unique [2]. The clinical importance of these bands in the left atrium is still not clearly defined and should not be confused with the left ven- tricular false tendon [3]. A better understanding of the natural history and clinical implications of this condition may better help us to diagnose and manage these patients. We present a case of severe symptomatic mitral regurgitation caused by a left atrial fibrous band. The patient had surgical resection of the band and symptoms improved significantly post procedure. 2. Methods In addition to the presented case report, we reviewed the literature to compare the clinical presentation and manage- ment of patients with a left atrial fibrous band. The review considered papers and publications written in the English language only. Keywords used for electronic search were left atrial fibrous band and mitral regurgitation. Definitions used for case inclusion were (a) diagnosis of left atrial band either by TTE, TEE, cardiac MRI, live 3D imaging, (b) abnormalities produced by left atrial bands, and (c) age greater than 18 years. Autopsy-reported cases were not included and no studies were excluded based on the date of publication. 3. Case Presentation A 55-year-old male with a past medical history of hyperten- sion reports exertional dyspnea for 8 months and nonexer- tional chest pain for 5 days. Physical exam revealed an afebrile patient; BP of 133/82 mmHg; heart auscultation revealed a new 3/6 systolic murmur, maximal at the apex radiating to the axilla; no leg swelling; and no jugular vein distention. The lungs were clear to auscultation. Pertinent Hindawi Case Reports in Cardiology Volume 2019, Article ID 2458569, 4 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2458569