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Left atrial wall thickness is associated with the low-voltage area in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation

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Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To identify a potential morphological marker of remodeling and electrophysiological dysfunction, we investigated if low wall thickness is associated with low-voltage areas (LVAs) in the left atrium.

Methods

Wall thickness was measured by computed tomography and LVA (% area with bipolar voltage < 0.5 mV) by voltage mapping in 43 paroxysmal AF patients. The left atrium was divided into five segments: septal wall, anterior wall, roof wall, posterior wall, and bottom wall in regional analysis.

Results

Left atrial wall thickness and LVA were 3.2 ± 0.6 mm and 14% ± 9%, respectively. Multivariate analysis identified left atrial wall thickness and volume as independent determinants of left atrial LVA (thickness, standardized β − 0.374, 95%CI − 23.289 to − 4.534, P = 0.005; volume, standardized β 0.452, 95%CI 0.049–0.214, P = 0.002). In regional analysis, significant LVA (> 10% of segment surface area) was observed in 123 of 215 segments (57%). Segments in the low tertile of wall thickness (< 1.76 mm) had larger LVAs compared with segments in middle (1.76–2.14 mm) and high tertiles (≥ 2.14 mm) (low tertile, 20.3% ± 14.9%; middle tertile, 12.6% ± 11.2%; high tertile, 12.5% ± 12.1%; low vs. middle tertile, P = 0.001; low vs. high tertile, P = 0.001). Area under the receiver operating curve of wall thickness was 0.706 for prediction of significant LVA. A thickness cut-off of 1.90 mm yielded 62% sensitivity, 73% specificity, 75% positive predictive value, and 59% negative predictive value for significant LVA.

Conclusion

A thin left atrial wall is an independent predictor of LVA in patients with paroxysmal AF.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mr. Yasushi Terada and Mr. Norihiko Konishi for their technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan

    Yosuke Nakatani, Tamotsu Sakamoto, Yoshiaki Yamaguchi, Yasushi Tsujino, Naoya Kataoka & Koichiro Kinugawa

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  1. Yosuke Nakatani
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  2. Tamotsu Sakamoto
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  3. Yoshiaki Yamaguchi
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  4. Yasushi Tsujino
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  5. Naoya Kataoka
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  6. Koichiro Kinugawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yosuke Nakatani.

Ethics declarations

The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Research and Ethics Committee of University of Toyama (Toyama, Japan) and adhered to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. We obtained written informed consent from all patients before performing catheter ablation.

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Nakatani, Y., Sakamoto, T., Yamaguchi, Y. et al. Left atrial wall thickness is associated with the low-voltage area in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. J Interv Card Electrophysiol 58, 315–321 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-019-00611-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-019-00611-1

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