title: A heart within the heart--a rare congenital cause of an embolic stroke.
abstract: The authors report the case of an 87-year-old lady who presented with a right middle cerebral artery territory infarct in whom the authors diagnosed a probable ruptured blood cyst attached to her anterior mitral valve leaflet, with the use of trans-thoracic and trans-oesophageal echocardiography. Embolic strokes are recognised as a rare complication of intracardiac blood cysts, with very few cases previously reported. Echocardiography was first used to identify a blood cyst in 1983 and remains an excellent modality to diagnose this rare condition.
authors: Cardiology Department, Harefield Hospital, London, UK. tinakhaled@hotmail.com
authors: Tina
authors: T
authors: Khan
authors: Samy
authors: S
authors: El-Sharkawy
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Schafer
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003560:Cysts / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D020766:Intracranial Embolism / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D008943:Mitral Valve; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed