ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the left atrium (LA) function and structure changes in the paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) patients after catheter ablation using tissue Doppler imaging. Methods After complete pul-monary vein, radiofrequency ablation guided by Ensite NavX System, LA systolic function and LA diameter, volume, mean mitral gradient and mitral annulus early and advanced diastolic peak velocity were assessed in 32 cases of par-oxysmal AF patients,which were compared with age-matched controls before and after 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month) AF ablation. Results AF did not occur again in 32 AF paroxysmal patients after isolation. LA diameter and volume in AF groups before ablation were larger than controls(P<0.01), which were also larger 24 hours after ablation than before (P>0.05 ), but LA volume was larger than before (P<0.05), and decreased in I week after ablation (P< 0.05), but had no significant difference compared with controls in 1 month(P>0.05 ) ;mitral annulus advanced di-astolic peak velocity decreased in AF groups before ablation (P<0.01 )and was lower than that 24 hours after cathe-ter ablation (P<0.05 ), but increased after 1 week (P<0.05 or P <0.01 ), and had no significance after 1 month. Conclusion Catheter ablation is the effective way to manage AF because LA is distended and atrial systolic func-tion is reduced within 24 hours after procedure, then gradually increased in a week and will nearly recover to that be-fore procedure in a month, which may be correlated with LA repair, implicating that postprocedural thromboembollc risk and procedure injury should be taken into consideration.