title: Assessments of pulmonary vein and left atrial anatomical variants in atrial fibrillation patients for catheter ablation with cardiac CT.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide a road map of pulmonary vein (PV) and left atrial (LA) variants in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) before catheter ablation procedure using cardiac CT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cardiac CT was performed in 1420 subjects for accurate anatomical information, including 710 patients with AF and 710 matched controls without AF. PV variants, PV ostia and spatial orientation, LA enlargement, and left atrial diverticulum (LAD) were measured, respectively. Differences between these two groups were also respectively compared. Some risk factors for the occurrence of LAD were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, PV variants were observed in 202 (28.5 %) patients with AF patients and 206 (29.0 %) controls without AF (p = 0.8153). The ostial sizes of all accessory veins were generally smaller than those of the typical four PVs (p = 0.0153 to 0.3958). There was a significant difference of LA enlargement between the AF and control groups (36.3 % vs. 12.5 %, p < 0.0001), while the prevalence of LAD was similar in these two groups (43.2 % vs. 41.9 %, p = 0.6293).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PV variants are common. Detailed knowledge of PVs and LA variants are helpful for providing anatomical road map to determine ablation strategy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • PVs variants are helpful for providing anatomical road map to ablation. • PV variants are common. • DSCT could recognize these anatomic features before ablation as a non-invasive imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China. yangzg666@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhi-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.
authors.forename: Qi-Hua
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. gykpanda@163.com.
authors.forename: Ying-Kun
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Cardiac computed tomography; Left atrial diverticulum; Left atrium; Pulmonary veins