Left atrial and ventricular ball thrombi complicating rheumatic heart disease with combined mitral and aortic stenosis.

Abstract

A 42-year-old woman with chronic mitral stenosis was admitted for progressive dyspnea, palpitation, and weakness of lower extremities. Echocardiography revealed rheumatic, thickened, and stenotic mitral and aortic valves, and two free-floating ball thrombi were detected in the left atrium and ventricle, respectively. She died suddenly the next day, probably due to mitral or aortic outflow obstruction by the ball thrombi. We believe that the occurrence of free-floating ball thrombi in both the left atrium and left ventricle concomitantly has never been reported.