Left atrial strain is reduced in patients with atrial fibrillation, stroke or TIA, and low risk CHADS(2) scores.

Background: Left atrial (LA) strain as a marker for discrimination of risk for stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) in patients with atrial fibrillation and low-risk CHADS(2) scores (≤1) has yet to be examined.

Methods: Patients with atrial fibrillation, stroke or TIA, and CHADS(2) scores ≤ 1 before their events were identified retrospectively from a large single-center stroke registry and compared with age-matched and gender-matched controls. Antihypertensive use and echocardiographic parameters including chamber volumes and left ventricular mass and LA peak negative and positive strain and strain rate were compared between groups.

Role of Echocardiography in the Management and Prognosis of Atrial Fibrillation.

Echocardiography plays a longstanding and vital role in the management of atrial fibrillation (AF). Advances in 2D imaging, Doppler echocardiography and strain imaging have all contributed to major progress in AF treatment. Echocardiographically measured left atrial (LA) volume is a powerful predictor of maintenance of sinus rhythm following cardioversion as well as risk of thrombus formation and thromboembolism.

Echocardiographic predictors of left atrial appendage thrombus formation.

Background: Although transesophageal echocardiography is the definitive test for the detection of left atrial (LA) appendage thrombus, transthoracic echocardiography has yet to prove useful for the determination of increased risk for LA appendage thrombus formation. The authors hypothesized that higher LA volume and/or lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) might prove valuable as markers of increased risk for LA appendage thrombus formation and tested this hypothesis in a consecutive retrospective series of patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing both transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography.

Methods: Three hundred thirty-four consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing transesophageal echocardiography for the detection of LA appendage thrombus were studied.