Clinical profile, treatment strategy and prognostic value of intraventricular thrombus detection

Abstract

Abstract Background The clinical course of patients with intraventricular thrombus (IVT) is highly variable. Controversy still exists about the length of anticoagulant treatment and its prognostic relevance. Purpose Our objective is to describe the epidemiology and clinical course of patients with IVT. Methods All patients with an echocardiographic finding of IVT in our tertiary hospital between 2005 and 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic, clinical, echocardiographic, and treatment variables were collected. Patients were followed-up to 24 months. Results A total of 195 patients with IVT were finally included. The 84.4% were male and the mean age was 65.4 ± 14.1 years. Baseline characteristics are shown in the Table. The diagnosis of IVT was mostly made in the context of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (55.9%), of which 60.5% had new-onset ST-segment elevation AMI and 23.5% evolved infarction. The thrombus finding was incidental in 38.0% of the cases while 5.6% debuted as stroke. Regarding the morphological characteristics, 40.5% of the thrombi were sessile, 31.2% mural shape, and 28.3% pedicled. At diagnosis, the LVEF was 38.6 ± 11.7% with an end-diastolic volume of 132.3 ± 64.2ml. Once diagnosed 86.7% of patients were on anticoagulation, 55.4% on 2PY12 inhibitor and 78.5% on acetylsalicylic acid. At 12 and 24 months, the proportion of anticoagulated patients was significantly reduced (62% and 59.4%, respectively). 24.9% continued with a P2Y12 inhibitor at 12 months and only 9% at 2 years. During follow-up, 24.4% of the patients had events at 6 months (2.4% AMI, 7.2% stroke, 2.4% systemic embolism and mortality was 14.7%). In this period there were 8.9% of hemorrhages. The proportion of ischemic events and mortality decreased at one year (5.6%) and at two years (12.1%). Complete IVT clearance was documented in 87% and the median time to resolution was 119 days [49.5-347.5]. IVT recurrence was observed in 10.7% of the cases, up to 50% detected before 2 years from diagnosis. Conclusions Most patients with IVT were diagnosed after an AMI. Despite current recommendations, more than 50% of patients continued anticoagulation at 2 years. A quarter developed events 6 months after diagnosis, and this proportion decreased significantly after this period. A recurrence rate of 10.7% was observed in our population.