Objectives: To provide a road map of pulmonary vein (PV) and left atrial (LA) variants in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) before catheter ablation procedure using cardiac CT.
Methods: Cardiac CT was performed in 1420 subjects for accurate anatomical information, including 710 patients with AF and 710 matched controls without AF. PV variants, PV ostia and spatial orientation, LA enlargement, and left atrial diverticulum (LAD) were measured, respectively. Differences between these two groups were also respectively compared. Some risk factors for the occurrence of LAD were analyzed.
Results: In total, PV variants were observed in 202 (28.5 %) patients with AF patients and 206 (29.0 %) controls without AF (p = 0.8153). The ostial sizes of all accessory veins were generally smaller than those of the typical four PVs (p = 0.0153 to 0.3958). There was a significant difference of LA enlargement between the AF and control groups (36.3 % vs. 12.5 %, p < 0.0001), while the prevalence of LAD was similar in these two groups (43.2 % vs. 41.9 %, p = 0.6293).
Conclusion: PV variants are common. Detailed knowledge of PVs and LA variants are helpful for providing anatomical road map to determine ablation strategy.
Key points: • PVs variants are helpful for providing anatomical road map to ablation. • PV variants are common. • DSCT could recognize these anatomic features before ablation as a non-invasive imaging.
Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Cardiac computed tomography; Left atrial diverticulum; Left atrium; Pulmonary veins.