Recognizing blind spots on echocardiography: Incremental benefit of cardiac CT in investigating the source of systemic embolism

Abstract

Transesophageal echocardiography is the gold-standard for evaluating potential central sources of thromboembolism. Despite its routine use and excellent safety profile, limitations exist in the ability to effectively assess the aortic arch and proximal descending aorta with this imaging modality. We herein present a case of a 59 year-old patient presenting with renal and splenic infarcts, without obvious cardioembolic source on echocardiography, who was found to have a large, mobile aortic thrombus on gated cardiac computed tomography.

Keywords

• Gated cardiac CT
• Echocardiography
• Aorta
• Cardioembolism