Intracardiac Thrombi in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: An Echocardiographic and Autopsy Correlation

Two-dimensional echocardiography is the primary diagnostic imaging modality for the evaluation of cardiac masses. We describe an adult male suffering from acute myeloid leukemia who was detected to have right atrial and right ventricular mass on echocardiography. Based on the clinical data metastasis, coincidental primary cardiac tumor, vegetation, and thrombi were considered as possible differential diagnosis. Chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia failed and patient succumbed to septicemia. Later, clinical autopsy confirmed the diagnosis of intracardiac thrombi. Occurrence of intracardiac thrombi in acute myeloid leukemia is extremely rare. This report also emphasises the importance of histopathological or clinical autopsy examination of the mass in certain clinical scenario with diagnostic dilema. (Echocardiography 2010;27:E4-E8)