Natural history of severe atheromatous disease of the thoracic aorta: A transesophageal echocardiographic study

Objectives.This study sought to prospectively observe the morphologic and clinical natural history of severe atherosclerotic disease of the thoracic aorta as defined by transesophageal echocardiography.Background.Atherosclerosis of the thoracic aorta has been shown to be highly associated with risk for embolic events in transesophageal studies, but the natural history of the disease under clinical conditions has not been reported.Methods.During a 20-month period, 191 of 264 patients undergoing transesophageal echocardiography had adequate visualization of the aorta to allow atherosclerotic severity to be graded as follows: grade I= normal (44 patients); grade II= intimal thickening (52 patients); grade III= atheroma