Abstract
Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting 33.5 million patients worldwide. The most serious complication is stroke, which is generally attributed to embolism of thrombus from the left atrium (LA). Studies utilizing transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) have shown that decreased blood flow velocities in the LA are risk factors for stroke in AF. However, TEE requires esophageal intubation and cannot fully assess the complex 3D pattern of flow in the LA. In addition, a systematic analysis of the impact of beat-to-beat variations on LA flow characteristics and thus thromboembolic risk is lacking, particularly in the presence of arrhythmia. To better elucidate the role of beat-to-beat flow variations in
Highlights
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting 33.5 million patients worldwide
To achieve sufficiently high frame rates needed for realtime flow acquisitions (45-50ms), the 2D flow imaging pulse sequence combines an echo planar imaging (EPI) readout module and with parallel acceleration in the temporal direction (T-PAT) and a novel reconstruction algorithm, shared velocity encoding3
Quantification of average and beat-to-beat variability of mean left atrium (LA) flow, peak mean LA velocities, and maximum LA through plane velocities (Fig 1C, D) clearly demonstrated elevated beat-to-beat variability in arrhythmia compared to sinus rhythm for all analyzed LA flow measures
Summary
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting 33.5 million patients worldwide. Studies utilizing transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) have shown that decreased blood flow velocities in the LA are risk factors for stroke in AF1,2. C: Beat-to-beat variability of mean LA flow and peak mean LA velocity for all 7 patients included in the study. Different AF phenotypes (arrhythmia vs sinus) we utilize a recently introduced real-time 2D flow imaging method which has shown promising results. Different AF phenotypes (arrhythmia vs sinus) we utilize a recently introduced real-time 2D flow imaging method which has shown promising results3 The goal of this feasibility study was to investigate different measures of LA flow to better understand the impact of different AF phenotypes on LA hemodynamics
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
