TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF LEFT ATRIAL THROMBUS IN PATIENTS OF RHEUMATIC SEVERE MITRAL STENOSIS WITH NEGATIVE RESULT ON TRANSTHORACIC ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the frequency of clot in left atrium by transesophageal echocardiographic diagnostic procedure (TEE) in patients with rheumatic severe mitral stenosis (MS) in those patients in whom transthoracic echocardiographic diagnostic procedure (TTE) did not observe any clot in left thrombus.

Methodology: The descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 369 patients with rheumatic severe MS. Patients having mitral valve are of 1.5 cm2 or less planned for PMV were included in study. Non-cooperative patients were excluded. It was decided to do TEE on a similar day before the intervention to assess LA thrombus.

Results: The mean age of the included patients was 45.65 ±11.54 years. There were 122 (33.1%) male patients and 247 (66.9%) female patients. In this study, clot in LA was diagnosed in 29.5% patients having negative TTE. LA clot was found in 33 male patients (30.3%) and 76 female patients (69.7%).

Conclusion: There is a high risk of missing LA thrombus on transthoracic echocardiography, therefore we recommend performing TEE in patients with normal TTE study before the procedure.