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Estimating Bilateral Atrial Function by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
08:10

Estimating Bilateral Atrial Function by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Published on: July 20, 2022

Prognostic value of exercise echocardiography in patients with atrial fibrillation

Alberto Bouzas-Mosquera1, Jesús Peteiro, Francisco J Broullón

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Hospital Universitario A Coruña, As Xubias, 84, 15006 A Coruña, Spain. aboumos@canalejo.org

European Journal of Echocardiography : the Journal of the Working Group on Echocardiography of the European Society of Cardiology
|February 19, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Exercise echocardiography (ExEcho) effectively predicts cardiac events in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This non-invasive test identifies ischaemia, aiding risk stratification for coronary artery disease (CAD) in this challenging population.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Diagnostic Imaging
  • Clinical Medicine

Background:

  • Non-invasive imaging for coronary artery disease (CAD) faces challenges in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).
  • Exercise echocardiography (ExEcho) is a well-established prognostic tool, but its utility in AF patients is not well-defined.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the prognostic value of ExEcho in patients with AF undergoing testing for CAD.
  • To determine if ExEcho can independently predict hard cardiac events in this specific patient group.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of 8095 patients referred for ExEcho, identifying 419 with AF.
  • Ischaemia defined by exercise-induced wall motion abnormalities.
  • Primary endpoint: hard cardiac events (cardiac death or non-fatal myocardial infarction).

Main Results:

  • Ischaemia was detected in 22% of AF patients.
  • A significantly higher 5-year hard cardiac event rate (37.3%) was observed in patients with ischaemia compared to those without (14.5%).
  • ExEcho-identified ischaemia independently predicted hard cardiac events (HR 1.99, P=0.03) and provided incremental prognostic value.

Conclusions:

  • Exercise echocardiography is a valuable tool for risk stratification in patients with AF and suspected CAD.
  • ExEcho offers significant prognostic information for predicting hard cardiac events in this population.
Abstract

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