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Prediction of Atrial Fibrillation with Atrial Late Potentials and Pathological Chemoreflexsensitivity
Author(s) -
BUDEUS MARCO,
HENNERSDORF MARCUS,
REINSCH NICO,
WIENEKE HEINRICH,
SACK STEFAN,
ERBEL RAIMUND
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.2007.00847.x
Subject(s) - medicine , atrial fibrillation , pathological , cardiology , incidence (geometry) , prospective cohort study , complication , stroke (engine) , physics , optics , mechanical engineering , engineering
Background:Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a very common arrhythmia that often causes the serious complication of a stroke.Object:The aim was to evaluate the utility of pathological chemoreflexsensitivity (PCHRS) and atrial late potentials (ALP) to predict AF in follow‐up.Methods:We investigated a prospective study on the basis of our observation about a PCHRS and ALP in paroxysmal AF. The PCHRS was predefined as a chemoreflexsensitivity below 3.0 ms/mmHg and ALP were predefined as a filtered P‐wave duration ≥120 ms and a root mean square voltage of the last 20 ms of the P‐wave ≤3.5 μV. A P‐wave triggered P‐wave signal averaged electrocardiograph (ECG) and chemoreflexsensitivity was performed on 250 consecutive patients who were divided into four groups. Group I consisted of patients with ALP and PCHRS, patients of group II had only ALP, a PCHRS was only present in group III, and patients of group IV had neither ALP nor PCHRS.Results:During the mean follow‐up of 37.8 months AF was observed in 10 patients (4%). The patients of the four groups were similar according to clinical baseline characteristics. The incidence of AF was higher in group I (18% of patients) than in group II (6% of patients, P = 0.229) and significantly higher than in group III (3% of patients, P = 0.034) or group IV (1% of patients, P < 0.0001). Patients with ALP and PCHRS showed a 33‐fold risk (P < 0.001) for the onset AF.Conclusions:The results of our study suggest that the probability of AF could be predicted with a P‐wave signal averaged ECG and an analysis of chemoreflexsensitivity. The predictive power of the combination of ALP and PCHRS seemed not high enough for risk stratification.