title: Prevalence of left atrial abnormalities in atrial fibrillation versus normal sinus patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atrial fibrillation (AF) may be the cause or sequela of left atrial abnormalities and variants.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of left atrial (LA) abnormalities in AF patients compared to normal sinus rhythm (NSR) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed 281 cardiac CT examinations from 2010 to 2012, excluding patients with prior pulmonary vein ablation, known coronary artery disease, prior coronary stent placement, or coronary artery bypass grafts. The first group consisted of 159 AF patients undergoing cardiac CT prior to pulmonary vein ablation and the second group consisted of 122 NSR patients evaluated with coronary CT angiography. Demographic data were collected. LA abnormalities were analyzed. Left atrial diameter was measured on an axial view.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 281 patients were included. The male gender has significantly higher prevalence of AF than female gender,Pvalue <0.001. Patients with AF were significantly older (mean age, 57.4 years; standard deviation [SD], 11.8 years) than NSR patients (mean age, 53.4 years; SD, 13.6 years),Pvalue, 0.01. The left atrial diameter was greater in the AF patients (mean diameter, 4.3 cm; SD, 0.82 cm) versus the NSR patients (3.4 cm; SD, 0.58 cm),Pvalue, <0.0001. LA diverticulum was the most prevalent variant, occurring in 28.4% of the entire patient population followed by LA pouch, occurring in 24%. There was no significant between group differences in the prevalence of these or the remainder of the LA variants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AF patients differed significantly from NSR patients in LA size, gender, and mean age. There was no statistical significance between the two groups with regard to the LA morphologic abnormalities other than size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, USA.
authors.forename: Silanath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Terpenning
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, USA.
authors.forename: Loren H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Ketai
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Shawn D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Teague
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Stacy M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rissing
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; left appendage diverticulum; left atrial abnormalities