Radiomic Phenotype of Periatrial Adipose Tissue in the Prognosis of Late Postablation Recurrence of Idiopathic Atrial Fibrillation

The aim of the study is to find new predictors of postablation atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence in patients with lone AF using a texture analysis of the periatrial adipose tissue (PAAT) of the left atrium.

Forty-three patients admitted for lone AF catheter ablation, who had undergone multispiral coronary angiography, were enrolled in the study. PAAT segmentation was performed using 3D Slicer application followed by extraction of 93 radiomic features. At the end of the follow-up period, patients were divided into 2 groups depending on the presence or absence of AF recurrence.

12 months of follow-up after catheter ablation, postablation AF recurrence was reported in 19 out of 43 patients. Of 93 extracted radiomic features of PAAT, statistically significant differences were observed for 3 features of the Gray Level Size Zone matrix. At the same time, only one radiomic feature of PAAT, Size Zone Non Uniformity Normalized, was an independent predictor of postablative recurrence of AF after catheter ablation and 12 months of follow-up (McFadden's R²=0.451, OR - 0.506, 95% CI: 0.331‒0.776, p<0.001).

The radiomic analysis of periatrial adipose tissue may be considered as a promising non-invasive method for predicting adverse outcomes of the catheter treatment, which opens the possibilities for planning and correction of patient management tactics after intervention.