Prognosis of Spontaneous Echocardiographic Contrast in the Thoracic Aorta

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the predictive value of spontaneous echocardiographic contrast (SEC) detected in the thoracic aorta by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) on intermediate-term cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We studied 299 consecutive patients (aged 61 ± 13 years) without aortic aneurysm or dissection, who underwent TEE in 1995 to 1996. Cardiovascular deaths and nonfatal events were recorded over a period of ≤60 months. Left ventricular function was classified as preserved versus depressed according to ejection fraction values (>40% vs ≤40%) on 2-dimensional echocardiography. SEC was identified in 35 patients (11.7%). During follow-up, 66 patients died (36 deaths were due to cardiovascular causes; 10 and 26 cardiovascular deaths occurred in patients with and without SEC, respectively [p