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Poor scar formation after ablation is associated with atrial fibrillation recurrence

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Abstract

Purpose

Patients routinely undergo ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) but the recurrence rate remains high. We explored in this study whether poor scar formation as seen on late-gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (LGE-MRI) correlates with AF recurrence following ablation.

Methods

We retrospectively identified 94 consecutive patients who underwent their initial ablation for AF at our institution and had pre-procedural magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) merged with left atrial (LA) anatomy in an electroanatomic mapping (EAM) system, ablated areas marked intraprocedurally in EAM, 3-month post-ablation LGE-MRI for assessment of scar, and minimum of 3-months of clinical follow-up. Ablated area was quantified retrospectively in EAM and scarred area was quantified in the 3-month post-ablation LGE-MRI.

Results

With the mean follow-up of 336 days, 26 out of 94 patients had AF recurrence. Age, hypertension, and heart failure were not associated with AF recurrence, but LA size and difference between EAM ablated area and LGE-MRI scar area was associated with higher AF recurrence. For each percent higher difference between EAM ablated area and LGE-MRI scar area, there was a 7–9 % higher AF recurrence (p values 0.001–0.003) depending on the multivariate analysis.

Conclusions

In AF ablation, poor scar formation as seen on LGE-MRI was associated with AF recurrence. Improved mapping and ablation techniques are necessary to achieve the desired LA scar and reduce AF recurrence.

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Abbreviations

AF:

Atrial fibrillation

LA:

Left atrium

MRA:

Magnetic resonance angiography

LGE-MRI:

Late-gadolinium enhancement MRI

EAM:

Electroanatomic mapping

PV:

Pulmonary vein

ICE:

Intracardiac echocardiography

pAbl:

Ablated surface area as a percentage of LA surface area in EAM

pScar:

Left atrial wall covered by scar as a percentage of total endocardial surface area of the LA wall in LGE-MRI

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Acknowledgments

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number K23HL115084 to Ravi Ranjan. This project was also supported by grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (8 P41 GM103545-14) from the National Institutes of Health through the Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing (CIBC).

Conflict of interest

Ravi Ranjan has been a consultant to Biosense Webster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CARMA Center, Division of Cardiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84132, USA

    Bhrigu R. Parmar, Tyler R. Jarrett, Eugene G. Kholmovski, Dennis Parker, Rob S. MacLeod, Nassir F. Marrouche & Ravi Ranjan

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Nan Hu

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  1. Bhrigu R. Parmar
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  2. Tyler R. Jarrett
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  3. Eugene G. Kholmovski
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  4. Nan Hu
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  5. Dennis Parker
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  7. Nassir F. Marrouche
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  8. Ravi Ranjan
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Correspondence to Ravi Ranjan.

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Parmar, B.R., Jarrett, T.R., Kholmovski, E.G. et al. Poor scar formation after ablation is associated with atrial fibrillation recurrence. J Interv Card Electrophysiol 44, 247–256 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-015-0060-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-015-0060-y

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