ABSTRACT
Objective To observation the changes of left atrium and pulmonary veins(PV)in patients with atrial fibrillation(AF) by transthoracic two-and three-dimensional echocardiography. Methods Transthoracic echocardiography were applied in 126 patients,which were divided into sinus rhythm(SR) group(64 cases)and AF group(62 cases),AF group were further divided into two subgroups:the paroxysmal AF and non-paroxysmal AF group.Left atrial area(LAA),left atrial volume(LAV),left atrial diameter(LAD)were measured by 2-dimensional echocardiography imaging.PV diameters were measured by three-dimensional echocardiography. Results Compared with SR group,PV diameters were significantly increased in AF group(P＜0.05).In patients with AF,PV diameters in non-paroxysmal AF group were larger than paroxysmal AF group.The four PV diameters in SR,paroxysmal AF and non-paroxysmal AF group did not show statisticant difference(P＞0.05).Compared with SR group,LAD,LAA,LAV were increased in AF group.LAD,LAA,LAV were larger in non-paroxysmal AF group than SR group and paroxysmal AF group(P＜0.05).Conclusions Left atrium and PV dilate significantly in patients with AF,transthoracic echocardiography could be a non-invasive method to observe left atrium and PV.
ABSTRACT
Objective To assess the prognostic value of tissue Doppler imaging(TDI) parameters in aeute myocardial infarction(AMI) patients. Methods After one week of AMI,102 patients underwent twodimensional/Doppler echocardiography and TDI examination.Early and late transmitral flow velocity E,A,deceleration time(DT)were measured. The average velocity of mitral valve at septal and lateral weremeasured including the systolic velocity(Sm),early diastolic velocity(Em)and late diastolic velocity(Am),Em/Am,E/Em were calculated.After 1 year follow up,the patients were divided into two groups according to whether hospitalizated due to heart failure(HF)or not. Stepwise multivariate COX regression analysis was used to identify the predictors of the cardiac event. Results In patients with H F,Sm,Em were lower than those of no HF group(P＜0.05),E,E/Em were higher than those of no HF group(P＜0.05 and0.01 respectively). Stepwise multivariate COX analysis identified that the E/Em was the only independent predictors of HF.E/Em≥12 was a useful HF predictors with a sensitivity of 84.2%,specificity of 77.1%.Conclusions E/Em ratio may assist in the risk stratification in AMI,and is a powerful predictor of HF.