Echocardiographic assessment of atrial tumour size and endogeneously generated contrast images. An experimental study

Experimental models, in vitro and in vivo, were designed to simulate the motion of an atrioventricular valve leaflet and an atrial tumour. Cross-sectional echocardiography was used to investigate any changes in apparent tumour size related to its motion. Both parts of the study suggest that endogenous contrast, due to surfaces of different acoustic densities generated around the rapidly moving tumour, contributes to the echographic pattern of the tumour. Thus, during diastole, the echo-mass cloud is greater than the real size of the tumour. The echocardiographic and actual size of the tumour may be identical only in ventricular systole when the blood flow around the atrial tumour is greatly decreased.