Free ball thrombus of the left atrium.

Abstract

A case with a ball thrombus in the left atrium with a normal mitral orifice is presented. This is an extremely rare combination. The patient, aged 76, suffered from attacks of cyanosis, dyspnoea and shock because of lodging of the thrombus in the mitral orifice. In addition she had abdominal pain. The autopsy showed the thrombus in a dilated left atrium, and there were recent infarctions in the liver and a thrombus in the left renal artery. The clinical diagnosis is difficult because of the rarity of this phenomenon, but one should think of emboli from the left atrium, when an atrial fibrillation is diagnosed. One should also consider the possibility of a myxoma with these symptoms.