title: Assessment of pulmonary venous stenosis after radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation by magnetic resonance angiography: A comparison of linear and cross-sectional area measurements.
abstract: One of the recognised complications of catheter ablation is pulmonary venous stenosis. The aim of this study was to compare two methods of evaluation of pulmonary venous diameter for follow-up assessment of the above complication: (1) a linear approach evaluating two main diameters of the vein, (2) semiautomatically measured cross-sectional area (CSA). The study population consists of 29 patients. All subjects underwent contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CeMRA) of the pulmonary veins (PVs) before and after the ablation; 14 patients were also scanned 3 months later. PV diameter was evaluated from two-dimensional multiplanar reconstructions by measuring either the linear diameter or CSA. A comparison between pulmonary venous CSA and linear measurements revealed a systematic difference in absolute values. This difference was not significant when comparing the relative change CSA and quadratic approximation using linear extents (linear approach). However, a trend towards over-estimation of calibre reduction was documented for the linear approach. Using CSA assessment, significant PV stenosis was found in ten PVs (8%) shortly after ablation. Less significant PV stenosis, ranging from 20 to 50% was documented in other 18 PVs (15%). CeMRA with CSA assessment of the PVs is suitable method for evaluation of PV diameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Vídenská 1958/9, 140 21, Prague 4, Czech Republic. jati@medicon.cz
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tintera
authors.forename: Václav
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Porod
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cihák
authors.forename: Hanka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mlcochová
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rolencová
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fendrych
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kautzner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000601:surgery*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008536:Meglumine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008875:Middle Aged; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011666:Pulmonary Valve Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D011667:Pulmonary Veins; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; C064572:gadobenic acid; D008536:Meglumine