Changes of left atrium and pulmonary veins in patients with atrial fibrillation by transthoracic two-dimensional and three-dimensional echocardiography / 中华超声影像学杂志

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 subgroupsthe 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.