Aortic atherosclerotic plaque and long-term prognosis in patients with atrial fibrillation-a transesophageal echocardiography study.

Background: Both left atrial spontaneous echo contrast (LASEC) and aortic atherosclerotic plaque (AoP) ≥ 4.0 mm in thickness are predictors of cardiovascular events after stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate impact of AoP ≥ 4.0 mm or LASEC on cardiovascular events in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods And Results: One hundred and eight consecutive patients with AF were enrolled and studied. Patients were grouped according to the presence or absence of AoP ≥ 4.0 mm in the proximal aortic arch on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Cardiovascular events included death, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, systemic embolism and congestive heart failure. During a follow-up period (median, 3.9 years), cardiovascular event-free survival rate was significantly lower in patients with AoP ≥ 4.0 mm than in patients without AoP ≥ 4.0 mm (log-rank, P=0.01). In contrast, patients with LASEC showed a trend toward lower cardiovascular event-free survival than those without LASEC (log-rank, P=0.10). Univariate TEE predictors of cardiovascular events were AoP ≥ 4.0 mm, LASEC and left atrial appendage flow velocity. On multivariate Cox regression analysis, AoP ≥ 4.0 mm was the only TEE predictor of cardiovascular events during follow-up (P=0.02, hazard ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval: 1.1-6.0).

Conclusions: In the present unselected patients with AF, AoP predicted long-term cardiovascular events.