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Review
. 2012 Oct 6;5(3):713.
doi: 10.4022/jafib.713. eCollection 2012 Oct-Nov.

The Role of Echocardiography as a Predictor of the Incidence and Progression of Atrial Fibrillation

Rui Providência  1   2 , Sérgio Barra  2 , Luís Paiva  2
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Echocardiography as a Predictor of the Incidence and Progression of Atrial Fibrillation

Rui Providência et al. J Atr Fibrillation. .

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent sustained arrhythmia and is an independent risk factor for stroke and death. In recent years, major echocardiographic advances have been made with the development of new techniques and applications that can be extremely useful for the management of these patients. This paper describes the role of echocardiography as a predictor of the incidence and progression of atrial fibrillation. A detailed description of the most relevant studies and recognition of unresolved questions regarding this subject are presented here. A special emphasis will be given on new techniques that allow the assessment of myocardial deformation and their possible role in the way we treat these patients.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Measurement of the atrial conduction time: PA-TDI is obtained using pulsed tissue doppler imaging with the sample placed in lateral border of the mitral annulus and measuring the time interval from the begining of the P wave (ECG lead II) to the late diastolic mitral annular velocity (A’)
E´- early diastolic mitral annular velocity; S´- systolic annular velocity.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Measuring of left atrial appendage flow velocities: placing the pulsed wave Doppler sample 1 cm from the entry of the LAA into the body of the LA. Emptying (Emp – positive defletion, towards the probe) and filling (Fill – negative deflection, away from the probe) velocities should be estimated from an average of five well-defined waves
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Left atrial deformation assessment using speckle tracking derived longitudinal strain. Six segments identified by different colours (red, blue, pink, green, light blue and yellow) are seen in the apical 4 chamber view image (A.). The corresponding segment strain and its variation during the cardiac cycle can be seen in the corresponding curves to the left (B.) and colour graph beneath the echocardiogram image (C.). The curves show a predominant positive strain (reflecting stretching). Different strain values can be observed in the different regions. The scale shows that positive strain in A. and C. is represented by the blue colour scale and negative strain by the red colour scale
AVC – aortic valve closure
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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