Quantification of blood echogenicity: Evaluation of a semiquantitative method of grading spontaneous echo contrast

Brain natriuretic peptide is a marker associated with thrombus in stroke patients with atrial fibrillation

“…After local pharyngeal anesthesia with lidocaine jelly and spray, patients were placed in the left lateral position for transducer insertion. The left atrium and the left atrium appendage (LAA) were observed in longitudinal views to detect left atrial thrombus and SEC, the severity of which was semi-quantitatively graded (scored from 0 to 4) [12]. Velocity profiles of the LAA were obtained by placing the pulsed Doppler sample volume at 1-2 cm into the orifice of the LAA.…”

Intensity of Left Atrial Spontaneous Echo Contrast as a Correlate for Stroke Risk Stratification in Patients with Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation

“…Thus it became apparent that there is a strong correlation between stroke event rate and the severity of LASEC1718. This was further corroborated by the development of semi-quantitative methods, including the three-grade method as Beppu et al proposed and the five-grade method as Fatkin et al proposed1619. Their results revealed that denser LASEC was accompanied by a higher risk of left atrial appendage thrombus formation in patients with NVAF.…”

“…Similar to our results, the stroke patients had a significant higher incidence of LASEC than the non-stroke patients. However, the intensity of LASEC may vary continuously, from sparse and barely perceptible to dense, and the magnitude of thromboembolic risk may also vary with the severity of LASEC1516. Thus it became apparent that there is a strong correlation between stroke event rate and the severity of LASEC1718.…”

In vitro atrial flow dynamics: normal conditions versus atrial fibrillation

“…This phenomenon is called Spontaneous Echo Contrast. On 2D echocardiography, a sort of ''smoke'' swirls helically and can be observed at low flow states (Fatkin et al, 1994(Fatkin et al, , 1995. It is interesting to remark that it is possible to detect a helical movement that could be the reason for red cell movement.…”