Skip to main content

Spontaneous right-sided microcavitations in a healthy adult

Abstract

Spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) is frequently observed in patients with structural and functional cardiovascular abnormalities. Literature describes cases of SEC either from agglutination of red blood cells and plasma proteins or from microcavitations. SEC secondary to the former is an independent predictor of future thromboembolic events and is most commonly observed in the left atrium or left atrial appendage. Thus, many authors reason that left atrial SEC is an indication for initiating anticoagulant therapy. We report a rare case of right atrial SEC that was incidentally found during echocardiographic evaluation of isolated peripheral edema in a healthy adult with a structurally normal heart. At present, there are no studies to offer guidance for management of right atrial SEC. This case emphasizes a necessary area of future research.

References

  1. Black IW 2000 Spontaneous echo contrast: where there’s smoke there’s fire. Echocardiography 17 373–382. (doi:10.1111/j.1540-8175.2000.tb01153.x)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Barak M, Katz Y 2005 Microbubbles: pathophysiology and clinical implications. Chest 128 2918–2932. (doi:10.1378/chest.128.4.2918)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Sadanandan S, Sherrid M 2000 Clinical and echocardiographic characteristics of left atrial spontaneous echo contrast in sinus rhythm. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 35 1932–1938. (doi:10.1016/S0735-1097(00)00643-4)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bashir M, Asher CR, Garcia MJ 2001 Right atrial spontaneous echo contrast and thrombus in atrial fibrillation: a transesophageal study. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 14 122–127. (doi:10.1067/mje.2001.108668)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Rastegar R, Harmick DJ, Weidemann P 2003 Spontaneous echo contrast video density is flow related and is dependent on the relative concentration of fibrinogen and red blood cells. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 41 603–610. (doi:10.1016/S0735-1097(02)02898-X)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kwaan HC, Sakurai S, Wang J 2003 Rheological abnormalities and thromboembolic complications in heart disease: spontaneous contrast and red cell aggregation. Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis 29 529–534. (doi:10.1055/s-2003-44559)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. DeGeorgia MA, Chimowitz MI, Hepner A, Armstrong WF 1994 Right atrial spontaneous contrast: echocardiographic and clinical features. International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging 10 227–232. (doi:10.1007/BF01137904)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Takeda J, Hashimoto K, Tanaka T 1991 Spontaneous portacaval shunts in patients with gastric cancer and hepatic cirrhosis. Kurume Medical Journal 38 33–37. (doi:10.2739/kurumemedj.38.33)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Handke M, Harloff A, Hefzel A, Olschewski M, Bode C, Geibel A 2005 Predictors of left atrial spontaneous echocardiographic contrast or thrombus formation in stroke patients with sinus rhythm and reduced left ventricular function. American Journal of Cardiology 96 1342–1344. (doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2005.06.085)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yasuoka Y, Naito J, Hirooka K 2009 Right atrial spontaneous echocontrast indicates a high incidence of perfusion defects in pulmonary scintigraphy in patients with atrial fibrillation. Heart and Vessels 24 32–36. (doi:10.1007/s00380-008-1084-3)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This case report did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hena Patel MD.

Rights and permissions

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the articles Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the articles Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Patel, H., Boateng, S., Singh, G. et al. Spontaneous right-sided microcavitations in a healthy adult. Echo Res Pract 2, K33–K36 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-15-0021

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-15-0021