Left ventricuiar thrombi with mobile or protruding segments

seen by echocardiography have been demonstrated to associate with a high risk of arterial embolization (l), with reported incideaces ranging from 22% to 100% (2,3). Controversy exists about the best treatment for this condition (4-20). Initiai results with urokinase were promising (4), but serious complications during thrombolysis, such as systemic embolization and cerebral breeding, have beer> reported more recently (5). Complete resolution of left ventricular thrombi with warfarin over a prolonged period has been reported previously (3,5,7,21). In a retrospective assessment (7), only 2 of 15 thrombi disappeared during 4 months of oral anticoagulant therapy, and other nonrandomized studies showed 50% to 59% complete resolution of left ventricular thrombus with the use of warfarin or low dose heparin for 15 days (21) to 6 to 9