Markers of coagulation and fibrinolysis do not detect or predict the presence of left atrial appendage thrombus in patients with atrial fibrillation

OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to evaluate the role of hemostatic variables in arterial blood serum in left atrial thrombosis and to define any hemostatic variables, such as serum biomarkers, that could potentially reduce the need for transesophageal echocardiography.

METHODS
This study included patients with non-valvular asymptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF), either paroxysmal, persistent, or chronic. The presence of an left atrial appendix (LAA) thrombus was used to form 2 groups: thrombus (+) and thrombus (-). The serum levels of the thrombotic/fibrinolytic markers including beta-thromboglobulin, prothrombin fragment 1+2, thrombin/antithrombin complex, human plasminogen activator inhibitor-1/tissue plasminogen activator complex, and D-dimer were compared between 2 groups.

RESULTS
The mean age of the study population was 65.6±12.2 years (range: 30–96 years), and 33 (61.1%) patients were male. Fourteen (25.9%) patients had an LAA thrombus and 40 patients did not. Two groups did not differ significantly with regard to any of the coagulation/fibrinolysis markers. The LAA thrombus (+) group had significantly higher rates of heart failure, peripheral artery disease, coronary artery disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p<0.05). Neither the serum levels of the study markers nor demographic and clinical parameters were predictive of an LAA thrombus in binary logistic regression analysis.

CONCLUSION
The arterial blood serum markers did not differ significantly between groups with and without an LAA thrombus and did not predict an LAA thrombus in patients presenting with AF.