Abstract
Left ventricular thrombus is mainly caused by anterior myocardial infarction or severe cardiac wall dysfunction of the apex, and is rarely caused by a complication of acute myocarditis. A 12-year-old female who developed symptoms of motor dysphasia and incomplete hemiparesis of the right side was admitted to the hospital. The brain MRI taken on the day of her admission showed acute cerebral infarction in the left basal ganglia and the frontoparietal lobe. The echocardiogram showed a movable thrombus, which was $19{\times}28mm$ sized and located in the apex of the left ventricle. So in order to prevent further thromboembolic event we performed open cardiac surgery via the atrium and removed the thrombus of the left ventricle. After the removal of the thrombus her symptoms improved and she was discharged from the hospital. Thrombus formation in acute viral myocarditis are considered to be related with endocardial injury and blood flow stasis. Treatment with anticoagulants in left ventricular thrombosis may not be effective and may even cause a major thromboembolism. When the thrombus is laminar and fixed, one should consider anticoagulant therapy. But if the thrombus is pedunculated and movable, which means that there are higher possibilities of major embolism or there may be already one, one should consider surgical removal. We report a 12-year-old girl who required surgical removal of a left ventricular thrombus caused by acute viral myocarditis.
좌심실 혈전은 전벽 심근 경색이나 심한 심첨부 심벽 운동 이상에 의해 주로 발생하며, 매우 드물게 급성 심근염에 합병되어 나타날 수 있다. 급성 심근염에 의한 혈전 형성은 심내막 손상 및 혈액의 울혈과 관계가 있는 것으로 생각되고 있다. 좌심실 혈전이 유동적이고 유경성일 경우, 전신 색전증의 위험이 증가하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 혈전이 무경성이고 유동성이 없는 경우에는 항응고 치료 요법을 고려할 수 있지만, 유경성의 과유동성 혈전이어서 전신 색전증의 가능성이 높거나 이미 전신 색전증이 발생한 경우에는 색전증의 재발을 막기 위해서 신속한 수술적 혈전 제거술이 필요하다. 저자들은 급성 심근염에 의해 생긴 좌심실 혈전을 수술적 치료로 제거하였기에 보고하고자 한다.
