Introduction: Ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy offers a favorable terrain for left ventricular (LV) thrombus formation; however, left artial appendage (LAA) may be an additional source of thrombi in patients with dilated heart. The main objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of LV and LAA thrombi in patients with chronic ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy in sinus rhythm, as well as to reveal echocardiographic predictors for thrombus formation.
Methods: The study included 57 patients with chronic dilated ischemic cardiomyopathy in sinus rhythm, who were not under oral anticoagulation therapy. Exclusion criteria included patients with: swallowing problems, acute myocardial infarction, idiopathic and/or non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation/flatter, severe systolic dysfunction. Transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography were obtained for each patient.
Results: Mean patient age was 62 +/- 10.5 years, mean LV end diastolic diameter was 67.2 +/- 5.8 mm, whereas mean LV ejection fraction (EF) was 37.1 +/- 4.3%. LV thrombus was detected in 11 (19.3%) patients; while 23 (40.3%) patients had LAA thrombus. In a multiple regression analysis LV size (p = 0.05) and lack of aspirin therapy (p = 0.02) showed to be independent LV thrombus predictors, whereas lower LV EF (p = 0.02) and larger LAA maximal area (p = 0.004) demonstrated to be independent predictors of LAA thrombus.
Conclusions: We consider that our study sheds light to the high possibility of LAA thrombi formation in addition to LV thrombi in patients with chronic dilated ischemic cardiomyopathy in sinus rhythm. LV size, LV EF, LAA maximal area and lack of aspirin therapy are shown to be independent predictors of left heart chamber thrombi in this patient category.