title: Incremental value of live/real time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography in the assessment of left ventricular thrombi.
abstract: This is a case series on three adult patients who contain left ventricular (LV) thrombus and the incremental benefits of live/real time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (3DTTE) in comparison to two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (2DTTE) in evaluating LV thrombi. These cases illustrate that 3DTTE is of additional benefit by demonstrating the following: (1) cropping of a single 3DTTE apical dataset may be enough to provide comprehensive assessment of the LV in a timely manner even without breath holding in a not fully cooperative patient (2) it identifies the exact point of attachment of the thrombus to the left ventricular wall, (3) helps to delineate the absence or presence of focal echolucent areas within thrombi indicative of the presence and extent of clot lysis, which may have potential therapeutic and prognostic implications, and (4) provides more accurate assessment of thrombus mobility which has prognostic indications.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Disease, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama 35249, USA.
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.forename: Navin C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Nanda
authors.forename: William A A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Farhat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mehmood
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Anurag
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D044465:White People