Why the study?
Does transesophageal echocardiography improve the diagnosis of nonclassical left atrial myxoma compared to transthoracic echocardiography in patients with mitral stenosis?
Does transesophageal echocardiography improve the diagnosis of nonclassical left atrial myxoma compared to transthoracic echocardiography in patients with mitral stenosis?
Transesophageal echocardiography is superior to transthoracic echocardiography for accurately diagnosing nonclassical left atrial myxomas, especially when coexisting with mitral stenosis.
May prompt TEE when TTE suggests thrombus in mitral stenosis; leaves open need for prospective validation.
We report a case of left atrial myxoma simulating a thrombus on transthoracic echocardiography, but correctly diagnosed using transesophageal echocardiography. As this tumor is usually fatal unless surgically resected, a correct diagnosis is essential. Myxomas which do not prolapse between the mitral valve leaflets and coexist with mitral stenosis may be difficult to diagnose accurately using transthoracic echocardiography. The advantages of transesophageal compared with transthoracic echocardiography in the diagnosis of nonclassical left atrial myxoma are discussed.
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Stoddard et al. (1992) studied this question.
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