Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and its prevalence is increasing. Cardioembolic stroke, most of the times secondary to thrombus formation in the left atrial appendage, is its most feared and life threatening consequence. Oral anticoagulation with vitamin-K-antagonists is currently the most used prophylaxis for stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation; unfortunately...

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BACKGROUND Left atrial thrombus is common in patients with mitral stenosis and atrial fibrillation; but how frequent it is in our population? The objective of study was to see the frequency of left atrial and appendage clot on trans-oesophageal echocardiography in symptomatic patients with severe mitral stenosis planned for PTMC. METHODS Trans-oesophageal echocardiographic data retrieved from...

Oral anticoagulation with warfarin is a cornerstone in the prevention of systemic thromboembolism in patients with atrial fibrillation. It reduces the risk of stroke by 67% compared with no antithrombotic therapy and by 36% compared with aspirin. The downside of anticoagulation is increased risk of major bleeding which amounts to 1% per year. Therefore, careful selection of patients for oral an...

We present a case of left atrial appendage (LAA) aneurysm and atrial septal defect in a 1-year-old child without cardiovascular symptoms referred for cardiac murmurs and cardiomegaly and diagnosed by 2and 3-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography. Subcostal and apical views showed a wide, fenestrated ostium secundum-type atrial septal defect with redundant septum (Fig. 1, arrow). The right-s...