title: Markers for silent atrial fibrillation in esophageal long-term electrocardiography.
abstract: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) often remains undiagnosed. Long-term surface ECG is used for screening, but has limitations. Esophageal ECG (eECG) allows recording high quality atrial signals, which were used to identify markers for PAF.
  
  
  
  In 50 patients (25 patients with PAF; 25 controls) an eECG and surface ECG was recorded simultaneously. Partially A-V blocked atrial runs (PBARs) were quantified, atrial signal duration in eECG was measured.
  
  
  
  eECG revealed 1.8‰ of atrial premature beats in patients with known PAF to be PBARs with a median duration of 853ms (interquartile range (IQR) 813-1836ms) and a median atrial cycle length of 366ms (IQR 282-432ms). Even during a short recording duration of 2.1h (IQR 1.2-17.2h), PBARs occurred in 20% of PAF patients but not in controls (p=0.05). Left atrial signal duration was predictive for PAF (72% sensitivity, 80% specificity).
  
  
  
  eECG reveals partially blocked atrial runs and prolonged left atrial signal duration - two novel surrogate markers for PAF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: andreas.haeberlin@insel.ch.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haeberlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lucca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lacheta
authors.affiliation: ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Institute for Human Centered Engineering, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Biel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niederhauser
authors.affiliation: ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Institute for Human Centered Engineering, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Biel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thanks
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marisa
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Centered Engineering, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Biel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Reto A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Wildhaber
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Centered Engineering, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Biel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goette
authors.affiliation: Institute for Human Centered Engineering, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Biel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jacomet
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seiler
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Juerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuhrer
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roten
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hildegard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bürgerspital Solothurn, Solothurn, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vogel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004947:Esophagus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: atrial fibrillation; esophageal ECG; long-term ECG; surrogate markers