Integrated backscatter for quantification and risk stratification of blood stagnation in left atrial appendages of patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis.

This study was designed to quantify the blood stagnation in left atrial appendages (LAA) of patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis, and to stratify the risk of spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) for thrombus formation. A total of 45 patients were enrolled in this study. Thirty of the 45 patients had rheumatic mitral stenosis. All the above patients were evaluated for LAA contractility by transesophageal echocardiography. Acoustic density of the stagnant blood was assessed using the integrated backscatter (IBS) mode. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the significant independent variables determining relative IBS in LAA were the mitral valve area (p = 0.02) and the atrial fibrillation rhythm (p = 0.0003). In patients with mitral stenosis, the IBS in LAA correlated well with the presence of thrombus (p = 0.004) and SEC (p = 0.002). Using the relative IBS in LAA with 6.8 dB as the cutoff value, the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of SEC formation in LAA was 83, 86, 95, 60 and 83%, respectively. Using the relative IBS in LAA with 10.0 dB as the cutoff value, the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of SEC with thrombus formation in LAA was 80, 80, 67, 89 and 80%, respectively. In conclusion, the blood stasis in LAA can be objectively quantified using IBS. Utilizing different cutoff values, the acoustic densitometry in LAA enables identification of stagnant blood which represents a risk for the development of either SEC only or SEC with thrombus formation.