{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T19:43:27Z","timestamp":1785527007924,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780012800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785369600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":62,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Cardiovasc Disord"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background and objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is a common intervention for symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF). Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and cardiac computed tomography (CCT) are commonly used pre-PVI to assess left atrial (LA) and left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus and visualize LA and pulmonary vein anatomy. This retrospective study aims to compare CCT and TEE in detecting LAA thrombus in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal or persistent AF scheduled for PVI.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Seven hundred five patients underwent routine TEE and CCT within 24\u00a0h. Patients with prior LAA thrombus, cardioembolic stroke, or contraindications to TEE were excluded. The presence or absence of LAA thrombus and other potential thrombus-inducing factors were evaluated using TEE and CCT, and the diagnostic performance of the two imaging modalities was compared.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Most patients had paroxysmal AF (54.2%) and a high CHA\u2082DS\u2082-VASc score (47.6%). TEE detected LAA thrombus in 1.8%, while 7% had SEC without thrombus. Cardiac CT scans showed LAA filling defects in 17.2%. Using TEE as the reference, CCT demonstrated high sensitivity (92.3%) and negative predictive value (99.8%), but low specificity (84.2%) and positive predictive value (9.9%) for LAA thrombus detection.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study supports CCT as a reliable imaging method for excluding LAA thrombus in AF patients scheduled for PVI. In cases where CCT shows no thrombus and adequate anticoagulation is ensured, catheter ablation and DCCV procedures can be safely considered.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12872-026-06012-3","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T07:23:49Z","timestamp":1780039429000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Comparison of cardiac computed tomography and transesophageal echocardiography for left atrial appendage thrombus detection"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5414-7268","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmet Hakan","family":"Ate\u015f","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7458-3956","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samuray","family":"Zakariyayev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5520-7103","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cem","family":"\u00c7\u00f6teli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9146-8765","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"U\u011fur Nadir","family":"Karakulak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2965-058X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mert","family":"Do\u011fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-8072-0225","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Halil Baris","family":"Basarir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2623-2542","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Selin","family":"Ardal\u0131","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7673-229X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hikmet","family":"Yorgun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7914-0169","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Necla","family":"\u00d6zer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0620-2140","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tuncay","family":"Haz\u0131rolan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9279-8424","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kudret","family":"Aytemir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"6012_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1093\/eurheartj\/ehaa612","volume":"42","author":"G Hindricks","year":"2021","unstructured":"Hindricks G, Potpara T, Dagres N, Arbelo E, Bax JJ, Blomstr\u00f6m-Lundqvist C, Boriani G, Castella M, Dan G-A, Dilaveris PE. 2020 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) The Task Force for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Developed with the special contribution of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the ESC. 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Due to the retrospective nature of this study, the requirement for obtaining informed consent from individual participants was waived by the Institutional Review Board in accordance with institutional policies for retrospective data analysis. All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain any individual person\u2019s data in any form (including individual details, images or videos).","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent for publication","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}],"article-number":"649"}}