title: Evaluation of left ventricular thrombi by contrast-enhanced computed tomography and two-dimensional echocardiography.
abstract: Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) was compared with 2-dimensional echocardiography (2-D echo) for evaluation of left ventricular (LV) thrombus. Thirteen patients with coronary artery disease who had LV thrombus initially documented by 1 of the 2 techniques were then studied with the other technique. The findings of the studies were concordant in 8 of 13 patients, with a similar description of the presence, location and size of the LV thrombus and associated regional LV wall abnormalities. In 5 of 13 patients, the 2 techniques produced discordant data. Of these, 2 patients had false-negative results on 2-D echo owing to poor visualization of the LV apex; 1 patient had a false-positive result on 2-D echo related to misinterpretation of a prominent papillary muscle; 2 patients had false-negative CT results, 1 related to insufficient contrast infusion. The findings demonstrate that CT is a useful technique for evaluating LV thrombus, and may be particularly helpful when 2-D echo is technically limited or equivocal.
mesh_terms: D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004452:Echocardiography; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed