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Predicting Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation in Cerebrovascular Ischemia Using Tissue Doppler Imaging and Speckle
Flemming Javier Olsen1, Peter Godsk Jørgensen2, Rasmus Møgelvang1
1Department of Cardiology, Herlev Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Insights
Advanced echocardiography revealed impaired atrial function in patients with cerebral ischemia (CI) and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). While promising, these findings are not yet clinically applicable for diagnosing PAF in CI patients.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Neurology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Cerebral ischemia (CI) often has an unidentified cause.
- Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) is a potential, yet often undetected, culprit for CI.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate if advanced echocardiography enhances the diagnosis of PAF in patients with CI.
- To investigate the utility of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and speckle tracking in identifying PAF.
Main Methods:
- 286 CI patients underwent echocardiography in sinus rhythm.
- Patients were categorized into PAF (n=86) and non-PAF (n=200) groups.
- Advanced echocardiography included TDI (global s', e', a') and speckle tracking (global longitudinal strain and strain rate).
Main Results:
- Patients with PAF showed significantly impaired atrial contractile measures (global a' and global strain rate a).
- Age, global a', and global strain rate a were independent significant determinants of PAF.
- The combination of these parameters improved diagnostic accuracy compared to age alone.
Conclusions:
- Advanced echocardiography-derived atrial contractile measures are significant indicators of PAF in CI.
- Currently, these measures lack sufficient discriminatory power for routine clinical use in diagnosing PAF in CI.
Background:
Often the underlying cause of cerebral ischemia (CI) cannot be found during a routine diagnostic investigation, but paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) could be the culprit.
Aim:
The objective of the study is to investigate whether advanced echocardiography improves the diagnostic approach for PAF in CI.
Methods:
The study included 286 CI patients with an echocardiogram in sinus rhythm. Patients were divided by PAF occurrence (PAF: n = 86, non-PAF: n = 200). PAF was defined as 1 or more reported episodes of atrial fibrillation. Echocardiograms consisted of conventional measures, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), and speckle tracking. TDI was performed to acquire myocardial peak velocities during systole/ventricular contraction (global s'), early diastole/ventricular filling (global e'), and late diastole/atrial contraction (global a'). Speckle tracking was performed for myocardial strain analysis, thereby retrieving global longitudinal strain and global strain rate (s, e, a) values.
Results:
Patients with PAF exhibited significantly impaired atrial contractile measures: global a' (-7.0 cm/second versus -5.7 cm/second, P < .001) and global strain rate a (.97 second(-1) versus .81 second(-1), P < .001). Both were univariable markers of PAF, and along with age remained the only independent significant determinants of PAF after multivariable logistic regression. Area under the curve (AUC) for age, global a', and global strain rate a significantly exceeded AUC for age alone (.79 versus .76, P = .032). Cutoff values with the highest sensitivity and specificity for these 3 parameters improved the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity = 97%, specificity = 32%, negative predictive value = 95%, and positive predictive value = 38%).
Conclusions:
Atrial contractile measures by advanced echocardiography are significant determinants of PAF in CI. However, there is no discriminatory power to make them clinically useful at the current moment.
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