Resolution of Left Ventricular Thrombus after Dabigatran Therapy in Two Patients with Old Anteroseptal Myocardial Infarction

Dabigatran has been used recently as an alternative to warfarin therapy for the prevention of thromboembolism in patients with myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation, but treatment of established intracardiac thrombus with dabigatran has seldom been reported. We report two patients with left ventricular (LV) thrombus who were successfully treated with dabigatran. The first patient was a 52-year-old man with no clear symptoms who was referred for investigation of abnormal electrocardiography findings, and the second patient was a 51-year-old man with recent onset of heart failure and a history of chest pain 1 month previously. Both patients were diagnosed with old anteroseptal myocardial infarction after echocardiography showed abnormal LV wall motion and LV thrombus. The thrombus was thought to be chronic in the first patient, and to have formed within the preceding month in the second patient. After treatment with dabigatran 220 mg/day and antiplatelet drugs, repeat echocardiography showed resolution of the thrombus after 6 weeks and 2 weeks, respectively. These cases illustrate that dabigatran 220 mg/ day may be useful for the treatment of established LV thrombus.