Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 20, 2026
Estimating Bilateral Atrial Function by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: July 20, 2022
Cardiac remodeling as a consequence of atrial fibrillation: An anatomical study of perfusion-fixed human heart
Christopher D Rolfes1, Stephen A Howard, Ryan P Goff
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Background:
Atrial fibrillation (AF) causes a continuum of atrial anatomical remodeling.
Methods:
Using a library of perfusion-fixed human hearts, specimens with AF were compared to controls. During this preliminary assessment study, direct measurements were taken of atrial volume, pulmonary vein (PV) circumference, and left atrial (LA) wall thicknesses.
Results:
Hearts with AF typically had larger atrial volumes, as well as a much larger variation in volume compared to controls (range of 59.6-227.1 mL in AF hearts compared to 65.1-115.9 mL in controls). For all hearts, right PVs were larger than left PVs (mean: 171.4 ± 84.6 mm([2]) for right and 118.2 ± 50.1 mm([2]) for left, P < 0.005). LA wall thicknesses ranged from 0.7 mm to 3.1 mm for both AF and control hearts.
Conclusions:
Hearts with AF had a large range of sizes which is consistent with the progression of atrial remodeling during AF. The large range of thicknesses will influence the amount of energy needed to create transmural lesions during ablation procedures.
