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Embolic events caused by aortic thrombi: An underestimated entity?

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Abstract

Stroke and other thromboembolic events are mainly caused by emboli from heart, aorta and other arteries. In this paper we describe a group of 5 middle-aged patients suffering from emboli caused by large thrombi in the aorta. Since the development of giant thrombi under high flow conditions in the aorta is a pathophysiological process which is not well understood, a model of flow distribution by numerically simulating the Navier–Stokes equation for an incompressible fluid was generated. This model simulated how such thrombi may develop in the aorta. We hypothesize that large thrombi issuing from the aortic vessel wall represent a underestimated entity in middleaged persons and are probably overlooked as the cause of stroke or other embolic events in some cases.

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Acknowledgments

C.K. and W.H. acknowledge support from the Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space–Time Research QUEST.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Diagnostic Radiology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Ernst-Grube-Strasse 40, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Dietrich Stoevesandt

  2. Institute of Quantum Optics, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Carsten Klempt & Waldemar Herr

  3. Department for Heart and Thoracic Surgery, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Robert Scheubel & Rolf-Edgar Silber

  4. Department of Medicine III, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Stefan Hettwer, Karl Werdan & Axel Schlitt

  5. Department of Neurology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Torsten Kraya

  6. Institute of Physiology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Oliver Thews

  7. Department of Cardiology, Paracelsus-Harz-Clinic Bad Suderode, Bad Suderode, Germany

    Axel Schlitt

Authors
  1. Dietrich Stoevesandt
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  2. Carsten Klempt
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  3. Robert Scheubel
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  4. Waldemar Herr
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  5. Stefan Hettwer
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  6. Karl Werdan
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  7. Rolf-Edgar Silber
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  8. Torsten Kraya
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  9. Oliver Thews
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  10. Axel Schlitt
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Correspondence to Dietrich Stoevesandt.

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Stoevesandt, D., Klempt, C., Scheubel, R. et al. Embolic events caused by aortic thrombi: An underestimated entity?. J Thromb Thrombolysis 35, 223–227 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-012-0775-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-012-0775-x

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