Usefulness of transthoracic echocardiography for identification of left atrial thrombus before balloon mitral valvuloplasty.

The objectives of this study were (1) to identify clinical and transthoracic echocardiographic features of patients with mitral stenosis who have thrombus recognized on transesophageal echocardiography, and (2) to define a clinical and echocardiographic model to predict the presence of left atrial thrombus in these patients.