James L Harrison1, Christian Sohns2, Nick W Linton2, Rashed Karim2, Steven E Williams2, Kawal S Rhode2, Jaswinder Gill2, Michael Cooklin2, C Aldo Rinaldi2, Matthew Wright2, Tobias Schaeffter2, Reza S Razavi2, Mark D O'Neill2. 1. From the Division of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King's College London (J.L.H., C.S., N.W.L., R.K., S.E.W., K.S.R., J.G., C.A.R., M.W., T.S., R.S.R., M.D.O.), Department of Cardiology (J.L.H., N.W.L., S.E.W., J.G., M.C., C.A.R., M.W, M.D.O.), Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. james.harrison@kcl.ac.uk. 2. From the Division of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King's College London (J.L.H., C.S., N.W.L., R.K., S.E.W., K.S.R., J.G., C.A.R., M.W., T.S., R.S.R., M.D.O.), Department of Cardiology (J.L.H., N.W.L., S.E.W., J.G., M.C., C.A.R., M.W, M.D.O.), Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Studies have reported an inverse relationship between late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) signal intensity and left atrial (LA) endocardial voltage after LA ablation. However, there is controversy regarding the reproducibility of atrial LGE CMR and its ability to identify gaps in ablation lesions. Using systematic and objective techniques, this study examines the correlation between atrial CMR and endocardial voltage. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty patients who had previous ablation for atrial fibrillation and represented with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation or atrial tachycardia underwent preablation LGE CMR. During the ablation procedure, high-density point-by-point Carto voltage maps were acquired. Three-dimensional CMR reconstructions were registered with the Carto anatomies to allow comparison of voltage and LGE signal intensity. Signal intensities around the left and right pulmonary vein antra and along the LA roof and mitral lines on the CMR-segmented LA shells were extracted to examine differences between electrically isolated and reconnected lesions. There were a total of 6767 data points across the 20 patients. Only 119 (1.8%) of the points were ≤ 0.05 mV. There was only a weak inverse correlation between either unipolar (r = -0.18) or bipolar (r = -0.17) voltage and LGE CMR signal intensities with low voltage occurring across a large range of signal intensities. Signal intensities were not statistically different for electrically isolated and reconnected lesions. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that there is only a weak point-by-point relationship between LGE CMR and endocardial voltage in patients undergoing repeat LA ablation. Using an objective method of assessing gaps in ablation lesions, LGE CMR is unable to reliably predict sites of electrical conduction.
BACKGROUND: Studies have reported an inverse relationship between late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) signal intensity and left atrial (LA) endocardial voltage after LA ablation. However, there is controversy regarding the reproducibility of atrial LGE CMR and its ability to identify gaps in ablation lesions. Using systematic and objective techniques, this study examines the correlation between atrial CMR and endocardial voltage. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty patients who had previous ablation for atrial fibrillation and represented with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation or atrial tachycardia underwent preablation LGE CMR. During the ablation procedure, high-density point-by-point Carto voltage maps were acquired. Three-dimensional CMR reconstructions were registered with the Carto anatomies to allow comparison of voltage and LGE signal intensity. Signal intensities around the left and right pulmonary vein antra and along the LA roof and mitral lines on the CMR-segmented LA shells were extracted to examine differences between electrically isolated and reconnected lesions. There were a total of 6767 data points across the 20 patients. Only 119 (1.8%) of the points were ≤ 0.05 mV. There was only a weak inverse correlation between either unipolar (r = -0.18) or bipolar (r = -0.17) voltage and LGE CMR signal intensities with low voltage occurring across a large range of signal intensities. Signal intensities were not statistically different for electrically isolated and reconnected lesions. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that there is only a weak point-by-point relationship between LGE CMR and endocardial voltage in patients undergoing repeat LA ablation. Using an objective method of assessing gaps in ablation lesions, LGE CMR is unable to reliably predict sites of electrical conduction.
Authors: Michael A Guttman; Susumu Tao; Sarah Fink; Rick Tunin; Ehud J Schmidt; Daniel A Herzka; Henry R Halperin; Aravindan Kolandaivelu Journal: Magn Reson Med Date: 2019-09-30 Impact factor: 4.668
Authors: Andreas Goette; Jonathan M Kalman; Luis Aguinaga; Joseph Akar; Jose Angel Cabrera; Shih Ann Chen; Sumeet S Chugh; Domenico Corradi; Andre D'Avila; Dobromir Dobrev; Guilherme Fenelon; Mario Gonzalez; Stephane N Hatem; Robert Helm; Gerhard Hindricks; Siew Yen Ho; Brian Hoit; Jose Jalife; Young-Hoon Kim; Gregory Y H Lip; Chang-Sheng Ma; Gregory M Marcus; Katherine Murray; Akihiko Nogami; Prashanthan Sanders; William Uribe; David R Van Wagoner; Stanley Nattel Journal: Heart Rhythm Date: 2016-06-10 Impact factor: 6.343