Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026
Estimating Bilateral Atrial Function by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: July 20, 2022
Volumetric cine CMR to quantify atrial structure and function in patients with atrial dysrhythmias
Subha V Raman1, Vincent Y Ng, Matthew A Neff
1Ohio State University, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. Raman.1@osu.edu
Insights
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) quantifies atrial structure and function in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) patients. The protocol did not detect atrial dysfunction in early heritable cardiomyopathy cases.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
- Biophysics
Background:
- Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia.
- Understanding atrial structure and function is crucial for managing AF.
- Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) offers advanced imaging capabilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To implement and evaluate a CMR protocol for assessing atrial structure and function.
- To compare atrial characteristics in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF), heritable cardiac conduction and myocardial disease with atrial dysrhythmias (HCCMD), and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Utilized CMR including cine imaging and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA).
- Assessed ventricular myopathy using delayed myocardial enhancement (DME).
- Analyzed pulmonary vein anatomy and atrial volumes/function.
Main Results:
- Left atrial volumes were higher and emptying function lower in PAF patients compared to controls, though not significant after adjusting for covariates.
- Midmyocardial fibrosis was observed in some HCCMD subjects but not in controls or PAF patients.
- No significant differences in atrial volumes or function were found between HCCMD subjects and controls.
Conclusions:
- CMR effectively quantifies atrial structure and function in PAF patients.
- The protocol did not reveal significant atrial functional abnormalities in early-stage HCCMD patients.
- Further research may refine CMR protocols for detecting subtle atrial changes.
Purpose:
To implement a cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-based protocol to define atrial structure and function in individuals with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF), heritable cardiac conduction and myocardial disease with atrial dysrhtyhmias (HCCMD), and healthy controls.
Methods:
Fifteen controls, 20 PAF, and 12 HCCMD subjects underwent CMR examination including: multislice short-axis cine, multislice horizontal long-axis cine, and gadolinium-enhanced coronal plane magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) for pulmonary vein analysis. We also assessed for ventricular myopathy with delayed myocardial enhancement (DME) acquisitions.
Results:
Right and left ventricular measurements did not differ among the three groups. Seven heritable atrial dysrhythmia subjects and no control or PAF subjects demonstrated midmyocardial fibrosis of the basal interventricular septum by DME. Left atrial (LA) volume at the onset of atrial systole and minimal LA volume were significantly higher in PAF subjects compared to controls (p < 0.05 for both), LA percent emptying was significantly lower in PAF subjects (p < 0.01), and RA percent emptying was significantly lower in PAF subjects compared to controls (p < 0.01), though these differences were not significant when controlling for heart rate, age and gender. There was no significant difference in right atrial (RA) volumes among study groups. Atrial volumes and function did not differ significantly between heritable atrial dysrhtyhmia subjects and controls. PAF subjects had greater frequency of a right middle pulmonary vein (RMPV) than controls (6/20 vs. 3/15) that did not reach statistical significance.
Conclusions:
CMR can quantify atrial structure and function in patients with PAF compared to controls. This protocol could not detect abnormalities in atrial function in early affected patients with heritable cardiomyopathy and atrial premature beats.
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