• Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Sep 2007

    Echocardiographic evaluation of the left atrium and left atrial appendage function in patients with atrial septum aneurysm: implications for thromboembolic complications.

    • A Goch, M Banach, G Piotrowski, I Szadkowska, and J H Goch.
    • Department of Cardiology, 1st Chair of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital No 3, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
    • Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2007 Sep 1;55(6):365-70.

    BackgroundOur study aimed to assess left atrium (LA) and left atrial appendage (LAA) function in patients with atrial septum aneurysm (ASA) and to relate it to thromboembolic complications.MethodsThe study group comprised 25 patients with isolated ASA (group I) and 17 clinically healthy subjects (control group = group II). Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography were performed in all investigated patients.ResultsIn group I, the following parameters were significantly higher than in the controls: LA minimal dimension (LA (min)) was 2.13 vs. 1.7 cm; LA presystolic dimension (LA (a)) was 2.66 vs. 2.29 cm and LA pre-ejection period/LA ejection time index (PEP/ETLA) was 1.26 vs. 0.41 ( P < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between groups as to P wave and PR-interval duration, which were 69 vs. 72 ms and 167 vs. 173 ms, respectively. All LAA parameters were investigated, but LAA minimal areas (LAA (area min)) were higher in the study group than in controls: LAA transversal dimension (LAA (trans)) was 1.89 vs. 1.32 cm; LAA longitudinal dimension (LAA (long)) was 4.24 vs. 3.11 cm; LAA maximal area (LAA (area max)) was 4.35 vs. 3.1 cm (2); LAA ejection fraction (EFLAA) was 56 vs. 33 %; LAA peak emptying (LAAE) was 0.64 vs. 0.41 m/s, and filling velocities (LAAF) was 0.55 vs. 0.42 m/s ( P < 0.05). The results indicate a depression of LA systolic and an enhancement of LAA function in patients with ASA compared with clinically healthy subjects.Conclusion(1) Atrial septum aneurysm impairs left atrium systolic function. (2) In patients with atrial septum aneurysm, left atrium appendage function changes; its systolic as well as a reservoir function improve. (3) The enhancement of LAA function in ASA may be a compensatory mechanism for LA systolic function deterioration. (4) As LAA systolic function is enhanced, it is rather unlikely that LAA is the place of origin of thrombi, which occur relatively frequently (according to the literature) in patients with ASA. The thrombi seem to be formed in the bulging sack of ASA, i.e., in the part of the LA whose systolic function is depressed.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…