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Published on: February 26, 2013
Left Atrial Appendage Velocity as a Predictor of Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery
Jennie Ngai1, James Leonard1, Ghislaine Echevarria1
1Departments of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Care, and Pain Medicine.
Objective:
To determine if there is an association between left atrial appendage velocity and the development of postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF).
Design:
Single institution retrospective study performed between January 2013 and December 2013.
Setting:
Single-institution, university hospital.
Participants:
Five hundred sixty-two adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery utilizing cardiopulmonary bypass.
Interventions:
No interventions for the purpose of this study.
Measurements And Main Results:
Left atrial appendage velocity, measured by transesophageal echocardiogram, ranged from 8 cm/sec to 126 cm/sec. The development of POAF within the first 3 days after cardiac surgery was 38.3%. The authors found that patients with a lower left atrial appendage velocity had a higher risk of developing POAF. In the adjusted logistic regression model, there was an 11% decrease in the odds of POAF for each 10-unit (cm/sec) increase in the left atrial appendage velocity (p = 0.044).
Conclusions:
Decreasing left atrial appendage velocity is an independent predictor of risk for the development of POAF following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.
