title: Giant left atrial ball thrombus in a patient with chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.
abstract: A 56-year-old woman with chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrillation presented with cardiac arrest during magnetic resonance imaging for back pain evaluation. Brain magnetic resonance imaging performed after cardiopulmonary resuscitation revealed multiple embolic lesions. Transesophageal echocardiography showed a large free floating thrombus ball and multiple mural thrombi in the left atrium. In light of the high-risk situation, an emergency operation was performed despite the occurrence of a fresh stroke within the previous 24 hours. The surgery was successful and the postoperative course was uneventful. The patient has been doing well since the operation on outpatient follow-up for 8 months.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Shin Kwang
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Cheol Whan
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae Kwan
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jung Sik
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Suk Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Choo
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000379:methods; D002908:Chronic Disease; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006325:Heart Atria; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017131:Thrombectomy / Q000379:methods; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome