A novel method to demonstrate thrombus formation of the left atrial appendage in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation by cardiac computed tomography.

Algorithm Cardiac computed tomography Left atrial appendage Persistent atrial fibrillation Thrombus Transesophageal echocardiography

Journal

International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature
ISSN: 2352-9067
Titre abrégé: Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc
Pays: Ireland
ID NLM: 101649525

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Oct 2021
Historique:
received: 09 08 2021
accepted: 24 08 2021
entrez: 16 9 2021
pubmed: 17 9 2021
medline: 17 9 2021
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is currently the gold standard technique for diagnosing left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombi. Cardiac computed tomography (CT) has been expected to become an alternative method to TEE; however, a reliable quantitative evaluation method has not been established. We enrolled 177 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation who underwent both cardiac CT and TEE before catheter ablation. The patients were classified into two groups according to the TEE results: the thrombus group (13 patients) and non-thrombus group (164 patients). The Hounsfield unit (HU) density at the proximal LAA (LAAp) and distal LAA (LAAd) was measured on cardiac CT images. The LAAd/LAAp HU ratio and standard deviation of HU density (HU-SD) at the LAAd were evaluated. We created an algorithm by decision tree analysis to predict LAA thrombus formation using the HU ratio and HU-SD. Definite absence of LAA thrombus (Category-I) was diagnosed for 139 patients by combining the first and second branching of the decision tree (Category-Ia: HU ratio of ≥0.26, Category-Ib: HU ratio of <0.26, HD-SD of ≥26.94). Definite presence of LAA thrombus (Category-Ⅱ) was diagnosed for 3 patients using the third branching of the decision tree (Category-Ⅱ: HU ratio of <0.26 and HU-SD of <13.85). Highly possibility of LAA thrombus (Category-III), but not definite, was diagnosed for the remaining 35 patients; therefore, these patients required diagnostic TEE. The diagnostic accuracy of this algorithm was 0.95. We have proposed a reliable algorithm to diagnose LAA thrombus formation using the HU ratio and HU-SD.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is currently the gold standard technique for diagnosing left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombi. Cardiac computed tomography (CT) has been expected to become an alternative method to TEE; however, a reliable quantitative evaluation method has not been established.
METHODS AND RESULTS RESULTS
We enrolled 177 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation who underwent both cardiac CT and TEE before catheter ablation. The patients were classified into two groups according to the TEE results: the thrombus group (13 patients) and non-thrombus group (164 patients). The Hounsfield unit (HU) density at the proximal LAA (LAAp) and distal LAA (LAAd) was measured on cardiac CT images. The LAAd/LAAp HU ratio and standard deviation of HU density (HU-SD) at the LAAd were evaluated. We created an algorithm by decision tree analysis to predict LAA thrombus formation using the HU ratio and HU-SD. Definite absence of LAA thrombus (Category-I) was diagnosed for 139 patients by combining the first and second branching of the decision tree (Category-Ia: HU ratio of ≥0.26, Category-Ib: HU ratio of <0.26, HD-SD of ≥26.94). Definite presence of LAA thrombus (Category-Ⅱ) was diagnosed for 3 patients using the third branching of the decision tree (Category-Ⅱ: HU ratio of <0.26 and HU-SD of <13.85). Highly possibility of LAA thrombus (Category-III), but not definite, was diagnosed for the remaining 35 patients; therefore, these patients required diagnostic TEE. The diagnostic accuracy of this algorithm was 0.95.
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
We have proposed a reliable algorithm to diagnose LAA thrombus formation using the HU ratio and HU-SD.

Identifiants

pubmed: 34527805
doi: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2021.100866
pii: S2352-9067(21)00154-8
pmc: PMC8433278
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

100866

Informations de copyright

© 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Auteurs

Motohide Tanaka (M)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Ryobun Yasuoka (R)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Tomoya Nagano (T)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Yasuhito Kotake (Y)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Masahiro Maruyama (M)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Hiromi Yamamoto (H)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Yoshitaka Iwanaga (Y)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Yutaka Hirano (Y)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Gaku Nakazawa (G)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Takashi Kurita (T)

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, 377-2 Onohigashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589-8511, Japan.

Classifications MeSH