BACKGROUND Mean platelet volume has been associated with stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, its role as a predictor of left atrial stasis, assessed by transesophageal echocardiography, in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation has not yet been clarified. METHODS Single center cross-sectional study comprising 427 patients admitted to the emergency department due to s...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether echocardiographic markers thromboembolic risk differ between patients with pure atrial flutter and patients with atrial flutter and intermittent atrial fibrillation. DESIGN Patients with atrial flutter were followed up prospectively for 12 months to identify intermittent atrial fibrillation. After the follow up period, transthoracic and multiplane transoesophage...

Whereas the left atrial appendage plays a rather minor role under physiological circumstances, it gains an importance in patients with atrial fibrillation. Compelling evidence has revealed that the left atrial appendage is implicated as the source of thrombus in the vast majority of strokes in atrial fibrillation. Oral anticoagulation remains the standard of care for stroke prevention in atrial...

Myxoma is the most common benign tumor of the heart, but it is very rare for it to originate from the left atrial appendage. Distinguishing between a mass, a thrombus, and a tumor in the body of the left atrium with preoperative transthoracic or transesophageal echocardiography is very difficult, even more so in patients with mitral valve disease and chronic atrial fibrillation. A 50-year-old m...

IN an exploration of the left atrium via an atrial septal defect during a recent cardiac catheterization in this laboratory, the catheter tip entered the left atrial appendage. An exaggerated "a" wave observed in the pressure contour from the left atrial appendage was striking and exceeded in amplitude the "a" wave from the left atrium proper. Following a similar observation shortly thereafter ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the interobserver variability between two observers from different echocardiographic laboratories. DESIGN Two observers reviewed video recordings blinded to the other's diagnosis. In part I (n = 88), they determined interobserver variability for spontaneous echo contrast, left atrial thrombi, and appendage thrombi. No diagnostic criteria for thrombi were defined. In part I...

IN an exploration of the left atrium via an atrial septal defect during a recent cardiac catheterization in this laboratory, the catheter tip entered the left atrial appendage. An exaggerated "a" wave observed in the pressure contour from the left atrial appendage was striking and exceeded in amplitude the "a" wave from the left atrium proper. Following a similar observation shortly thereafter ...