Structural and Functional Properties of the Left Atrium in Healthy Volunteers and Patients With Atrial Fibrillation:...

In the recent years, there has been an increasing number of publications postulating that data on left atrial (LA) structure obtained by late gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (LGE MRI) can improve the management of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). At the same time, similar data regarding healthy LA myocardium is limited.

To assess structural and functional properties of LA in healthy volunteers (HV) using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) (including LGE MRI); to compare these properties in patients with AF and HV.

We included in this study 53 patients with AF (28 without signs of cardiovascular disease, 28 with hypertension) and 23 HV of similar age. All enrolled persons underwent MRI. Cine-MRI was used to assess end diastolic volume of LA (LA EDV), LA ejection fraction (LA EF), left ventricular diastolic index (LV DI). High resolution LGE MRI was performed 15-20 min after gadoversetamide injection using IR 3D gradient echo pulse sequence with fat saturation (TI 290-340 ms, TE 2.44 ms, TR 610-1100ms). On obtained images LA was segmented semiautomatically. LA fibrosis quantification was performed using developed software LGE Heart Analyzer. The extent of fibrosis was represented as percent of LA myocardium volume. Fibrosis location was determined on reconstructed rotating 3D LA model.

Compared with patients HV had lower LA EDV (59 [54; 78] ml and 79 [65.5; 86.6] ml, р=0.043, respectively), higher LA EF (56.1 [49; 63.2] % and 44.5 [34.5, 54.5] %, р=0.03, respectively), and lower extent of LA fibrosis (0.7 [0.05; 3.5] % and 9.1 [1.7; 18] %, р.