BACKGROUND: Left ventricular thrombus (LVT) is reported to be a common complication in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. And it has the potential to cause systemic embolism. This retrospective study was to present the current situation of LVT in clinical practice, as well as to evaluate the clinical characteristics and the risk factors of LVT after AMI. METHODS: LVT cases (n = 96) were identified from 13,732 AMI (non-ST elevation myocardial infarction was excluded) patients in Fuwai Hospital's electronic medical records system from January 2003 to January 2013. The controls (n = 192) were gender- and age-matched AMI patients without LVT during this period. A conditional logistic regression (fitted by the Cox model) was performed to identify the independent risk factors. RESULTS: The incidence of LVT after AMI was 0.7%. Univariate analysis indicated that the anterior myocardial infarction (especially extensive anterior myocardial infarction), lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), LVEF ≤40%, severe regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA), pericardial effusion, and left ventricular aneurysm were all related to LVT after AMI. The independent risk factors obtained from the conditional logistic regression analysis were lower LVEF (odds ratio (OR) = 0.891, 95% confidence interval (CI ): 0.828-0.960), extensive anterior myocardial infarction (OR = 6.403, 95% CI: 1.769-23.169), severe RWMA (OR = 7.348, 95% CI: 1.323-40.819), and left ventricular aneurysm (OR = 6.955, 95% CI: 1.673-28.921). CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that lower LVEF, extensive anterior myocardial infarction, severe RWMA, and left ventricular aneurysm were independent risk factors of LVT after AMI. It also suggested that further efforts are needed for the LVT diagnosis after AMI in clinical practice.