Abnormalities of left atrial function after cardioversion: an atrial strain rate study
- 1 January 2007
- Vol. 93 (1), 89-95
- https://doi.org/10.1136/hrt.2006.088609
Abstract
Background and objectives: The role of atrial myocardial dysfunction after cardioversion is unclear. In a comparison of patients after successful cardioversion from chronic atrial fibrillation (CAF) and normal controls, we sought to determine whether Doppler-derived atrial strain rate (A-sr) could be used to measure global left atrial function and whether A-sr was reduced in patients with CAF. Methods: A-sr was measured from the basal septal, lateral, inferior and anterior atrial walls from the apical four-chamber and two-chamber views in 37 patients with CAF who had been cardioverted to sinus rhythm and followed up for 6 months, and in a cohort of 37 healthy people. Conventional measures of atrial function included peak transmitral A-wave velocity, A-wave velocity time integral, atrial fraction and the left atrial ejection fraction. Doppler tissue imaging was used to estimate atrial contraction velocity (A′ velocity). In addition to amplitude parameters, the time to peak A-sr was measured from aortic valve closure. Results: Immediately after cardioversion, A-sr in the CAF cohort (baseline) was significantly lower than in controls (mean (SD) −0.53 (0.31) v −1.6 (0.75) s−1; pv 0.46 (0.12) s), but this failed to normalise over time. Conclusion: A-sr is a descriptor of atrial function, which is reduced after cardioversion from CAF and subsequently recovers.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Strain and strain rate imaging: a new clinical approach to quantifying regional myocardial functionJournal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 2004
- Atrial structural remodelling and restoration of atrial contraction after linear ablation for atrial fibrillationEuropean Heart Journal, 2003
- High frame rate strain rate imaging of the interventricular septum in healthy subjectsEuropean Journal of Ultrasound, 2001
- Impaired left atrial mechanical function after cardioversion: Relation to the duration of atrial fibrillationJournal of the American College of Cardiology, 1994
- Left atrial volume determination by biplane two-dimensional echocardiography: Validation by cine computed tomographyAmerican Heart Journal, 1991
- Transient atrial dysfunction after conversion of chronic atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythmThe American Journal of Cardiology, 1988
- STATISTICAL METHODS FOR ASSESSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN TWO METHODS OF CLINICAL MEASUREMENTThe Lancet, 1986
- Importance of left atrial function in patients with myocardial infarction.Circulation, 1983
- Normal left atrial function determined by 2-dimensional echocardiographyThe American Journal of Cardiology, 1983
- Cardiac output after direct current conversion of atrial fibrillation.Heart, 1969