Publications by authors named "Ta-Chuan Tuan"
Background: Undetected atrial fibrillation (AF) poses a significant risk of stroke and cardiovascular mortality. However, diagnosing AF in real-time can be challenging as the arrhythmia is often not captured instantly. To address this issue, a deep-learning model was developed to diagnose AF even during periods of arrhythmia-free windows.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gender is a well-recognized risk factor in atrial fibrillation (AF)-related ischemic stroke. The association of gender with the use of oral anticoagulants (OACs) and prognosis remains unknown.
Methods: The National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan identified 203,775 patients with AF aged 20 years from 2012 to 2018, with 55.
Article Synopsis
- Signal-averaged electrocardiography (SAECG) was studied in patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathies (NICMs) to determine its diagnostic and prognostic value regarding ventricular arrhythmia (VA).
- In a study of 58 NICM patients, those who met at least one SAECG criterion showed larger areas of scar tissue and more frequently had extremely low-voltage zones than those who did not meet the criteria.
- The findings suggest that a positive SAECG indicates a greater risk for arrhythmogenic issues in NICM patients, although it did not significantly correlate with long-term recurrence of ventricular arrhythmias.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigates how AI and pre-ablation CT images can predict the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after catheter ablation, relying on clinical data and imaging for better accuracy.
- Researchers analyzed data from 638 patients and designed machine learning models using CT images and clinical variables, achieving varying predictive performance for AF recurrence.
- The best results came from an ensemble model combining both AI-driven imaging and selected clinical variables, yielding a predictive accuracy (AUC) of 0.76.
Background: The aim of this study was to build an auto-segmented artificial intelligence model of the atria and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) on computed tomography (CT) images, and examine the prognostic significance of auto-quantified left atrium (LA) and EAT volumes for AF.
Methods and results: This retrospective study included 334 patients with AF who were referred for catheter ablation (CA) between 2015 and 2017. Atria and EAT volumes were auto-quantified using a pre-trained 3-dimensional (3D) U-Net model from pre-ablation CT images.
Introduction: Catheter ablation is an effective and safe strategy for treating atrial fibrillation patients. Nevertheless, studies on the long-term outcomes of catheter ablation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy are limited. This study aimed to assess the electrophysiological characteristics of atrial fibrillation patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and compare the long-term clinical outcomes between patients undergoing catheter ablation and medical therapy.
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- A study was conducted to evaluate whether a new mapping technique, PRISM, could improve catheter ablation outcomes for patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) when combined with traditional methods.
- The trial involved 170 patients and showed that those who underwent the PRISM-guided procedure had a significantly higher success rate in maintaining normal heart rhythm after 12 months compared to the conventional approach.
- The findings suggest that PRISM mapping may enhance the precision of AF treatment and reduce the recurrence of atrial arrhythmias, making it a promising alternative for persistent AF management.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines how catheter ablation (CA) of atrial fibrillation (AF) affects the severity of mitral regurgitation (MR) in patients who have both conditions, analyzing data from 2011 to 2021.
- Of the 50 patients analyzed, those with improved MR after CA (group 1) had fewer risk factors like hypertension and diabetes, and less scar tissue in the left atrium compared to those with refractory MR (group 2).
- The results indicate that while most patients experience improved MR post-ablation, the presence of scar tissue in the posterior bottom of the left atrium predicts a poorer outcome in terms of MR recovery.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the occurrence of Carina breakthrough (CB) at the right pulmonary vein (RPV) after a specific ablation procedure in atrial fibrillation patients.
- Out of 62 patients, 33.87% experienced RPV CB, and those affected had lower contact force (CF) at lesions near the RPV carina compared to those who did not.
- The research found that a CF of less than 10.5 grams is a potential predictor of RPV CB, suggesting that higher CF during ablation could help reduce this complication.
Article Synopsis
- This study compares the effectiveness of circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (CPVI) and segmental pulmonary vein isolation (SPVI) in patients undergoing redo ablations for recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF).
- 543 patients who had AF ablation were analyzed, with 141 included in the final assessment; the results showed similar AF-free survival rates for both techniques, but a significant difference in atrial flutter recurrence favoring CPVI.
- The findings suggest that while SPVI and CPVI are comparable for AF recurrence, SPVI has a higher rate of atrial flutter, potentially linked to more residual pulmonary vein gaps over time.
Background: Modifying the autonomic system after catheter ablation may prevent the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF). Evaluation of skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA) is a noninvasive method for the assessment of sympathetic activity. However, there are few studies on the effects of different energy settings on SKNA.
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- A study investigated why some patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) progress to persistent atrial fibrillation (PersAF) despite catheter ablation, focusing on predictors of this progression.
- The study included 400 PAF patients, categorizing them into three outcome groups, and monitored them for 3 years post-ablation to assess AF recurrence and progression.
- Key findings showed that a larger left atrial diameter, presence of non-pulmonary vein triggers, and a history of thyroid disease were significant predictors for both recurrence of AF and progression to PersAF.*
Background: Treatment with oral anticoagulants (OACs) could prevent stroke in atrial fibrillation (AF), but side effects developed due to OACs may cause patients anxiety during decision making. This study aimed to investigate whether shared decision making (SDM) reduces anxiety and improves adherence to stroke prevention measures in patients with AF.
Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest design using a questionnaire survey was applied at the outpatient cardiology clinic between July 2019 until September 2020.
Background: Catheter ablation (CA) is a treatment strategy for atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We investigated the electrophysiological characteristics of recurrence in a tertiary referral center and compared long-term clinical outcomes after CA therapy with patients who did not undergo CA.
Methods: Patients with HCM and AF who underwent CA (group 1, = 60) or pharmacological treatment (group 2, = 298) between 2006 and 2021 were enrolled in this study.
Article Synopsis
- Amiodarone is a medicine used during therapeutic hypothermia (cooling the body) after a heart stops working because of abnormal heart rhythms.
- Scientists did experiments on pigs to see how this medicine affects heart electricity when the pigs are cooled down.
- The results showed that using amiodarone during cooling makes heart signals uneven and increases the risk of dangerous heart rhythms compared to just cooling down.
Introduction: Ventricular arrhythmia (VA) commonly originate from the left ventricular summit (LVS) and results in left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in some patients; however, factors related to LV cardiomyopathy have not been well elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the risk factors for LV cardiomyopathy and the outcomes of patients with LVS VA.
Methods: Between 2013 and 2018, a total of 139 patients (60.
Article Synopsis
- A study compared the effectiveness of cryoballoon ablation (CBA) and high-power short-duration (HPSD) ablation for pulmonary vein isolation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF).
- The analysis involved 251 patients, showing that CBA achieved isolation significantly faster than HPSD (20.6 min vs 51.8 min).
- Despite similar overall recurrence rates of atrial tachyarrhythmias, CBA was linked to a higher occurrence of atrial flutter compared to HPSD.
Chronic inflammation harbors a vulnerable substrate for atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after catheter ablation. However, whether the ABO blood types are associated with AF recurrence after catheter ablation is unknown. A total of 2106 AF patients (1552 men, 554 women) who underwent catheter ablation were enrolled retrospectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Reentrant atrial tachycardias (ATs) utilize critical isthmus (CI) for the maintenance of the circuit. The electrophysiological characteristics and clinical implications of the targeted CI regions of reentrant ATs during sinus rhythm (SR) were not clear. Therefore, our research aims at studying the electrical properties of the CI sites for scar-related reentrant ATs and the functional substrate mapping identified during SR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The presence of abnormal substrate of left atrium is a predictor of atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after pulmonary vein isolation. We aimed to investigate the isochronal late activation mapping to access the abnormal conduction velocity for predicting AF ablation outcome.
Methods: Forty-five paroxysmal AF patients (30 males, 57.
Instruction: We hypothesized that real-time simultaneous amplitude frequency electrogram transform (SAFE-T) during sinus rhythm (SR) is able to identify and characterize the drivers of atrial fibrillation (AF) in nonparoxysmal (NP) AF.
Methods: Twenty-one NPAF patients (85.71% males, mean age 52 years old) underwent substrate mapping during SR (SAFE-T and voltage) and during AF (complex fractionated atrial electrograms [CFAE] and similarity index [SI]).
(1) Background: Catheter ablation (CA) is an accepted treatment option for drug-refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT) in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). This study investigates the effect of amiodarone on ablation outcomes in ARVC. (2) Methods: The study enrolled patients with ARVC undergoing CA of sustained VT.
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- The study investigates changes in skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA) in patients undergoing catheter ablation for idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia (VA).
- Researchers monitored 43 patients' SKNA before and after the ablation procedure to assess neuromodulation effects.
- Results showed that patients whose ablation was successful had lower post-ablation SKNA compared to those with failed procedures, particularly those whose arrhythmias involved the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT).
Aims: The efficacy of catheter ablation (CA) on clinical outcomes and cardiac structural remodelling in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with HF with mildly reduced or mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF) remains unclear. We aimed to compare the efficacy of CA with medical therapy (MT) in AF patients with HFmrEF.
Methods And Results: We retrospectively screened a total of 36 879 patients with AF between 2005 and 2020.