Spontaneous echocardiographic contrast in the thoracic aorta: Factors associated with its occurrence and its association with embolic events

Spontaneous echocardiographic contrast is associated with embolic events when it occurs in the left atrium. Because little is known about spontaneous echocardiographic contrast in the aorta, we investigated this association retrospectively in 343 patients without aortic dissection or aneurysm who had undergone transesophageal echocardiography. Two independent readers concurred on the presence of spontaneous echocardiographic contrast in the aorta in 93% of the study patients, with the remainder agreed on by consensus. Spontaneous echocardiographic contrast was found in 65 patients (19%) and was associated with older age (p < 0.0001), male sex (p < 0.0001), slightly larger aortas (p < 0.0001), and complex aortic atherosclerosis (p = 0.0001). Thirty-four (28.6%) of 119 patients with clinical embolic events had spontaneous echocardiographic contrast in the aorta in contrast to 31 (13.8%) of 224 patients referred for other reasons (p = 0.0001). This finding remained significant when spontaneous echocardiographic contrast in the aorta was the only abnormality allowed (n = 207, p = 0.0065) or when other echocardiographic variables known to be related to embolic events were included in a multivariate analysis. Thus, spontaneous echocardiographic contrast in the aorta can often be detected by transesophageal echocardiography and is associated with a higher prevalence of embolic events.