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Left Ventricular Thrombus: Diagnosis, Anticoagulation, and Systemic Embolization

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Echocardiography in Coronary Artery Disease

Part of the book series: Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine ((DICM,volume 80))

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Abstract

Within the past decade, it has been established that echocardiography can diagnose left ventricular thrombi with a fair degree of accuracy [1–11]. This has been an impetus to the performance of many studies on the natural history of these thrombi and their response to therapy. Unfortunately, the literature occasionally fails to differentiate between clinically different subgroups of patients. Left atrial and left ventricular thrombi are seen in different settings, and echocardiography is better in diagnosing ventricular than atrial thrombi. Three distinct clinical entities associated with the occurrence of left ventricular thrombi should be differentiated: acute myocardial infarction, chronic left ventricular aneurysm as a sequel to myocardial infarction, and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in the absence of coronary disease. We review the accuracy of echocardiography for diagnosing intracardiac thrombi, and then discuss the role of echocardiography in the setting of acute myocardial infarction and chronic aneurysm in detecting thrombi, in predicting embolization, and in decisions about antithrombotic therapy.

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Authors
  1. Richard S. Meltzer
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  2. Cees A. Visser
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Cees A. Visser M.D.  & Gerard Kan M.D.  & 

  2. Department of Medicine and Radiology and the Center for Biomedical Ultrasound, Rochester, New York, 14642, USA

    Richard S. Meltzer M.D.

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© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Boston/Dordrecht/Lancaster

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Meltzer, R.S., Visser, C.A. (1988). Left Ventricular Thrombus: Diagnosis, Anticoagulation, and Systemic Embolization. In: Visser, C.A., Kan, G., Meltzer, R.S. (eds) Echocardiography in Coronary Artery Disease. Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol 80. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1767-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1767-8_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8991-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1767-8

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