Authors: Eivind Solheim Morten Kristian Off Per Ivar Hoff Peter Schuster OleJørgen Ohm Jian Chen
Publish Date: 2010/04/13
Volume: 28, Issue: 2, Pages: 87-93
Abstract
Substratebased radiofrequency ablation for treatment of atrial fibrillation AF is still under development The purpose of this study was to investigate the different characteristics and distribution of complex fractionated atrial electrograms CFAE in both atria in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AFThe NavX™ system was used to map the left and right atria and the coronary sinus in 20 AF patients ten persistent An automated algorithm calculates the average time interval between consecutive deflections complex fractionated electrogram CFE mean All recordings were visually inspected offline and interpreted either as continuous fragmented mixed CFAE or nonCFAE and their locations were determined Electrograms with intermittent CFAE characteristics were also regarded as nonCFAEs There were more CFAEs in persistent AF than in paroxysmal AF 52 vs 44 of total registrations p 005 and CFAEs were more widespread in both atria in persistent AF patients There were also more continuous CFAEs 70 vs 59 of total CFAEs p 005 and less mixed and intermittent CFAEs 22 vs 30 and 16 vs 21 of total CFAEs respectively p 005 in persistent AF Fragmented CFAEs had more highvoltage signals than other groups Employing the automated algorithm for CFAE mapping a CFE mean cutoff value of ≤80 ms provides a sensitivity and specificity of 874 and 812 respectivelyThis study was partly supported by the Norwegian Foundation for Health and Rehabilitation Solheim Schuster received an educational grant from Biosense Webster and Solheim and Chen have served on the St Jude Medical advisory board There are no other conflicts of interest to be disclosed
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