Low-Velocity Flow Doppler Enhancement for the Study of Spontaneous Echo Contrasts

Abstract

Detection of spontaneous echo contrasts (SEC) is important in assessing the risk of stroke and thromboembolism. Transthoracic echocardiography is the most widely used primary imaging for left ventricular SEC. Although harmonic imaging improves visualization to an extent, further improvement in the detection of the phenomenon is desirable. We are presenting images of two patients acquired with a novel method using Doppler to enhance the detection of SEC.