title: [The relationship between left atrial thrombus and hematological markers in patients with chronic non-rheumatic atrial fibrillation].
abstract: We examined the relationship between left atrial thrombus and hematological variables in patients with chronic non-rheumatic atrial fibrillation (NRAf). This study consisted of 122 patients, 76 men and 46 women with a mean age of 73. Transesophageal echocardiography was performed to detect left atrial thrombi, and at the same time hematological variables including hematocrit, platelet count, fibrinogen level, thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT), D-dimer (DD) and fibrin degradation product E (FDP-E) levels were measured. Left atrial thrombi were detected in 28 (23%) of the 122 chronic NRAf patients. The serum fibrinogen was significantly higher in thrombus-positive patients than thrombus-negative patients (400 +/- 140 mg/dl vs. 274 +/- 69 mg/dl, p < 0.0001). The patients with left atrial thrombi had significantly higher levels of serum DD (302 +/- 200 vs. 157 +/- 101 ng/ml, p < 0.0001) and FDP-E (169 +/- 129 vs. 85 +/- 68 ng/ml, p < 0.0001) than the patients without. Scoring was made based on the levels of fibrinogen, DD and FDP-E as follows: 0 points if fibrinogen was under 380 mg/dl and 1 points if was 380 mg/dl or over, 0 points if DD was under 150 ng/ml, 1 points if 150 ng/ml or over and under 250 ng/ml, 2 points if 250 ng/ml or over, 0 points if FDP-E was under 70 ng/ml, 1 points if 70 ng/ml or over and under 140 ng/ml, 2 points if 140 ng/ml or over. According to the combined scores for these 3 markers, the prevalence of positive left atrial thrombi was 4% in 46 patients with 0 points, 18% in 38 patients with 1 or 2 points, 38% in 26 patients with 3 or 4 points and 75% in 12 patients with 5 points.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Asama General Hospital.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000990:Antithrombin III; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000032:analysis; D006325:Heart Atria; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000097:blood; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; C046193:antithrombin III-protease complex; C036309:fibrin fragment D; D000990:Antithrombin III; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases