Missing left atrial thrombus: dislodgement or artifact?
Patients with a left atrial thrombus are considered at high risk of thromboembolism. Surgical treatment is generally recommended. We experienced a case of a patient with a history of cerebral embolism related to chronic atrial fibrillation in whom, unexpectedly, no thrombi were found at thrombectomy. Although echocardiography is a useful method for detection of a thrombus in the left atrium, the possibility of a reverberation artifact should be routinely explored.
Kurisu
Kazuhiro
K
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kitakyushu Municipal Medical Center, Kitakyushu, Japan. byou-iryou-cvs@city.kitakyushu.lg.jp
Hisahara
Manabu
M
Ando
Yusuke
Y
D016477:Artifacts; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006325:Heart Atria; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D020766:Intracranial Embolism / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017131:Thrombectomy; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis*