[Differential echocardiographic diagnosis of a giant left atrium and pericardial effusion].

With a sharp increase in the sizes of the left atrium its wall in the form of a fold can be seen behind the left ventricle. An echo-free space is recorded in such cases on echocardiograms. It can be interpreted as pericardial exudate. Proceeding from an analysis of the results of ultrasonic investigation of 5 patients the authors have proposed some criteria for differential diagnosis between the gigantic left atrium and pericardial effusion.