A floating thrombus detected by CT in the descending aorta in an obese patient: A possible genetic-environmental interaction.

A floating thrombus in a nonaneurysmal, nonatherosclerotic aorta is a rare finding and may represent an unusual source of systemic embolism. Less than 130 cases have been reported in the literature. We describe a rare case of aortic floating thrombus in the descending aorta and the proximal portion of the suprarenal abdominal aorta detected by computed tomography angiography in a 50-year-old woman who was admitted to our emergency room with epigastric abdominal pain. The computed tomography angiography also showed some defects in the subsegmentary pulmonary artery branches along with a splenic infarction with splenic artery and vein thrombi, and a left renal thrombus. On genetic testing the patient resulted heterozygous for the polymorphism for 5,10-methylentetrahydrofolate reductase C677T polymorphism and also with homozygous deletion alleles of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene. The aortic floating thrombus resolved during anticoagulant therapy after 4 weeks.