Echocardiographic assessment of atrial tumour size and endogeneously generated contrast imagesAn experimental study

Experimental models, in vitro and in vivo, were designed tosimulate the motion of an atrioventricular valve leaflet andan atrial tumour. Cross-sectional echocardiography was usedto investigate any changes in apparent tumour size related toits motion. Both parts of the study suggest that endogenouscontrast, due to surfaces of different acoustic densities generatedaround the rapidly moving tumour, contributes to the echo-graphicpattern of the tumour. Thus, during diastole, the echo-masscloud is greater than the real size of the tumour. The echocardiographicand actual size of the tumour may be identical only in ventricularsystole when the blood flow around the atrial tumour is greatlydecreased.