Longer longitudinal atrial dimension in patients with idiopathic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: A possible cause of atrial fibrillation

Background The ostium of the superior pulmonary veins or superior vena cava has been reported to be an important source of the ectopic beats that initiate paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). The structural details of the atria in patients with idiopathic PAF, however, remain unknown. Methods We st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American heart journal 2001-10, Vol.142 (4), p.669-678
Main Authors: Tanabe, Teruhisa, Deguchi, Yoshiaki, Handa, Shunnosuke, Takahashi, Akiko, Fukushi, Hiromichi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Atrial Fibrillation - diagnosis
Atrial Fibrillation - etiology
Atrial Fibrillation - pathology
Biological and medical sciences
Cardiovascular system
Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional - statistics & numerical data
Female
Heart Atria - anatomy & histology
Heart Atria - pathology
Heart Ventricles - anatomy & histology
Heart Ventricles - pathology
Humans
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Systole - physiology
Ultrasonic investigative techniques
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Summary:Background The ostium of the superior pulmonary veins or superior vena cava has been reported to be an important source of the ectopic beats that initiate paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). The structural details of the atria in patients with idiopathic PAF, however, remain unknown. Methods We studied 113 patients (92 men and 21 women) with idiopathic PAF and 128 normal control subjects (100 men and 28 women). None of the subjects in either group were found to have any evidence of structural cardiac disease. The echocardiographic measurements were performed in the apical 4-chamber view during end-systole of sinus rhythm. Results The longitudinal dimension of the left and right atria was longer in patients with PAF who were not administered any drugs (non–drug-taking patients) than in the control subjects (P
ISSN:0002-8703
1097-6744
DOI:10.1067/mhj.2001.117505