Electrical Remodeling of the Atrioventricular Node Caused by Persistent Atrial Fibrillation in Humans.
J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol
; 27(8): 918-22, 2016 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27098002
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
An animal experiment showed that long-term atrial pacing or persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) caused electrical remodeling of the atrioventricular (AV) node. We aimed to test the hypothesis that persistent AF decreases the AV conductivity in human hearts. METHODS ANDRESULTS:
We retrospectively compared the cardiac electrophysiological properties between patients with paroxysmal AF who underwent catheter ablation (PXAF, N = 254) and those with persistent or longstanding persistent AF (PSAF, N = 213). The PSAF patients were more likely than PXAF patients to have longer atrial-His (AH) (96.3 ± 25.7 vs. 91.3 ± 20.4 milliseconds; P = 0.02) and His-ventricle (HV) (43.1 ± 9.4 vs. 41.2 ± 8.6 milliseconds; P = 0.02) intervals. The AV nodal effective refractory period (ERP) (299.1 ± 74.6 vs. 276.2 ± 58.9 milliseconds; P < 0.001) and Wenckebach cycle length (420.9 ± 80.3 vs. 386 ± 58.6 milliseconds; P < 0.001) were also more prolonged in the PSAF patients. We found a dual AV nodal physiology with a similar frequency in both groups. The AH interval, fast pathway ERP, and Wenckebach cycle length in the PSAF patients were more likely than in the PXAF patients to be prolonged among the patients without dual pathways, while those intergroup differences were never seen among the patients with dual pathways. In subgroup analyses including only PSAF patients, there was no difference in the AV conductivity between the patients with persistent AF and those with longstanding persistent AF.CONCLUSIONS:
Persistent AF may cause a mild decrease in the AV nodal function in human hearts. Electrical remodeling may be uncommon if dual AV nodal pathways are present, and its extent may not depend on the duration of persistent AF.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Atrial Fibrillation
/
Atrioventricular Node
/
Sick Sinus Syndrome
/
Action Potentials
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol
Journal subject:
ANGIOLOGIA
/
CARDIOLOGIA
/
FISIOLOGIA
Year:
2016
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Japan