[Usefulness of 2-dimensional echocardiography in detecting intraventricular thrombi in patients with acute myocardial infarction].
The purpose of this study is to determine the importance of two-dimensional echocardiography performed soon after admission to the coronary care unit to provide useful information concerning wall-motion abnormalities, and to detect and characterize left ventricular thrombi. A major goal is to identify a subgroup of patients with acute myocardial infarction who are at risk for systemic embolization; in this subgroup the benefits of anticoagulation treatment would theoretically outweigh the associated risks. We studied 7 consecutive male patients, age range from 32 to 60 years, with acute myocardial infarction. Five patients had antero-septal infarction, 1 anterolateral and another had anterior wall infarction. We performed two-dimensional echocardiography within the first week after admission. All patients had severe apical-wall-motion abnormalities (akinesis or dyskinesis) and left ventricular thrombi. All patients received anticoagulation therapy. Two-dimensional echocardiography, performed one month after the first study, showed that the thrombi had decreased in size in 6 patients and could not be visualized in 1 patient. The noninvasive nature of echocardiography allows serial evaluations of patients with known left ventricular thrombi and permits assessment of the effect of therapy.
Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, México, D.F.
J
J
Vargas-Barrón
A
A
Andrade-Freire
J C
JC
Ramírez
E
E
Waisser
J
J
Martínez-Sánchez
D000328:Adult; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004452:Echocardiography; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*
D000925:Anticoagulants
Utilidad de la ecocardiografía bidimensional en la detección de trombos intraventriculares en pacientes con infarto agudo del miocardio.