MR and CT imaging of intracardiac and pulmonary artery thrombi

Eleven patients with pulmonary emboli (six) or intracardiac thrombi (five) underwent six CT and eight MR imaging studies. CT with intravenous contrast agent enhancement and MR imaging encompassed the right and left cardiac cavities and the pulmonary artery branches. Selective pulmonary angiograms (seven patients) and cardiac US scans (five patients) were obtained for correlation. Although detection of left auricle and the main pulmonary artery were detected with MR imaging and CT. No distinction between cruoric thrombi and tumor was possible with either CT or MR imaging. This study suggests that CT and MR imaging could be used as the first examinations in cases of atypical clinical presentation of pulmonary embolism