Congenital absence of the left atrial appendage: a rare anatomical variation with clinical significance.

Congenital absence of the left atrial appendage (LAA) is extremely rare.We describe a case of congenial absence of the LAA in a patient scheduled for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. Absence of the LAA was found pre-procedurally by transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and cardiac computer tomography (CT). During the ablation procedure, the absence was confirmed by contrast injection at the usual location of the LAA.