A case of left atrial free ball thrombus in a patient with prosthetic mitral valve

Abstract

A free left atrial ball thrombus is relatively a rare diagnosis and usually leads to systemic embolization or fatal complication of thrombus incarceration in left ventricle inflow. We report a case of 52-year-old woman who was admitted to hospital with symptoms of heart failure. Routine echocardiography showed a free-floating ball thrombus in the left atrium. The free-floating thrombus was round with smooth surface and about 3.7 mm in diameter. The mitral valve prosthesis was well-functioning. The computed tomography of the patient also showed the left atrial ball thrombus. The erratic finding was that the patient was compliant on oral anticoagulants for the last 6 months with her INR in theraputic range. This suggested that this thrombus had been there for a some time and anticoagulants failed to resolve this problem. She was referred to cardiac surgery for thrombus extraction but the patient refused to have the operation.