Unusual findings of M-mode echocardiogram in a case with left ventricular thrombus.

The unusual echo findings of the left ventricular thrombus by M-mode echocardiogram is reported. The patient was a 41-year-old man with hypokinesis of the inferior and inferolateral wall due to acute myocardial infarction. The findings of M-mode echocardiogram revealed dense thick linear echoes just below the anterior wall of the apex, which had a higher density than the myocardium and looked "band like". These abnormal echoes obtained by M-mode echocardiogram were also detected through examinations by 2-dimensional echocardiogram, computed tomogram and left ventriculogram, and were assumed to arise from the index finger-sized thrombus in the left ventricle at the time of surgical procedure. Although this abnormal echo, revealed to have a "band like" feature by M-mode echocardiogram, is usually seen in the left ventricular myxoma, we assume that this "band like" echo by M-mode echocardiogram arose from the left ventricular thrombus under conditions such as myocardial infarction, ventricular aneurysm, dilated cardiomyopathy and long-term congestive heart failure.