Clinical utility of tissue Doppler imaging in prediction of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Background: Atrial systolic dysfunction in patients with coronary artery disease might influence the development of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Tissue Doppler imaging of the mitral annulus during atrial systole has proved to quantify, accurately, left atrial contractile function. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between preoperative left atrial dysfunction assessed by tissue Doppler and postoperative atrial fibrillation after CABG.