Spontaneous left atrial echo contrast, mitral annular systolic velocity, and left atrial appendage late emptying velocity in predicting improvement of left atrial function after percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty.

Background: Thromboembolic events are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with mitral stenosis (MS). This study aims to investigate left atrial spontaneous echo contrast (LA SEC), mitral annular systolic velocity (Sa-wave), left atrial appendage (LAA) late emptying velocity (LAAEV), LAA filling velocity (LAAFV) pre- and postpercutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV) for MS. This also aims to study the association of LA SEC with inflammatory marker, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in MS.