title: Left atrial ball thrombi without mitral valve disease treated by surgical removal.
abstract: We describe two patients with free-floating left atrial ball thrombi with no evidence of cardiac disease except atrial fibrillation. One patient had experienced an embolic stroke, and the second patient had a history of stroke and peripheral thromboembolism. In each patient, the thrombi, which were not visible on transthoracic echocardiography, were detected by transesophageal echocardiography. Each patient underwent successful surgical removal using cardiopulmonary bypass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Niigata University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hanzawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moro
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohzeki
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases; D006801:Humans; D008943:Mitral Valve; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*