CASE REPORTS  THORACIC PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 1998 October;39(5):689-90

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Right atrial thrombus in a patient with stage IV carcinoma of the lung: is the surgical treatment the correct choice?

Sabharwal P., Ruggles S., Gharagozloo

From the Department of Surgery Georgetown University Medical Center Washington, D.C., USA

Thrombus in the ­right ­atrium or ven­tricle is ­rare and car­ries a mor­tality ­rate of 40%. ­Death fre­quently ­occurs ­when the ­thrombus ­moves ­toward the pul­mo­nary ­arteries. Emer­gent treat­ment is there­fore ­required. How­ever ­there is no ­clear con­sensus ­regarding ther­a­peutic man­age­ment. We ­present ­here a ­patient ­with ­right ­atrial ­thrombus who under­went sur­gical explo­ra­tion of the ­right ­atrium and suc­cessful throm­bec­tomy.