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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Catheter Ablation in Combination With Left Atrial Appendage Closure for Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: February 26, 2013
Free-floating left atrial ball thrombus following mitral valve replacement
Timothy Chen1, Thierry H Lejemtel, Jose Garcia
1Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10467, USA.
Abstract:
We report the case of a 51-year-old woman who underwent mitral valve replacement for prolapse with severe regurgitation, depressed ejection fraction, and atrial fibrillation. Two weeks post-operatively, a transesophageal echocardiogram was performed for bacteremia. The patient was found incidentally to have a large free-floating ball thrombus in the left atrium. The patient was managed with anticoagulation because of the high-risk nature of repeat surgery. One month following diagnosis, the patient still had persistent thrombus in the left atrium seen on transthoracic echocardiography despite therapeutic anticoagulation. Free-floating ball thrombus is a rare and dramatic finding seen on echocardiography in patients with mitral valve disease.
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