Questions posted in the Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Question Title: Atrial Fibrillation missed in an echocardiogram - possible?

Forum: The Heart Forum
Topic: Mitral Valve


Echocardiogram shows 100 to 150 beats per minute.
A subsequent ECG showed atrial fibrillation.
Would the atrial fibrillation show up on the echocardiogram
as either:
1. from the picture, ie, the sonogram of the heart
2. the ECG tracing at the bottom of the echocardiogram tape.

Should not tachycardia of 100 to 150 beats per minute
when the normal rhythmn of 60 is 2.5 times less be
addressed? Or is this considered not important in contemporary
standards for medical care?

The heart in question has severe mitral regurgitation.

One would think that tachycardia should not be dismissed or
disregarded - or is by contemporary cardioogists?

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Dear Adam,

I suppose the heart in question could have been in sinus rhythm at the time of the echocardiogram and then subsequently in atrial fibrillation or it could have been in afib at the time of the echo and this was missed. Generally cardiologists are interested in the heart rate.

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