Novel Echocardiographic Biomarkers in the Management of Atrial Fibrillation

Purpose of Review: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in adults. The number of patients with AF is anticipated to increase annually, mainly due to the aging population alongside improved arrhythmia detection. AF is associated with a significantly elevated risk of hospitalization, stroke, thromboembolism, heart failure, and all-cause mortality. Echocardiography is one of the key components of routine assessment and management of AF. Therefore, the aim of this review is to briefly summarize current knowledge on “novel” echocardiographic parameters that may be of value in the management of AF patients. Recent Findings: Novel echocardiographic biomarkers and their clinical application related to the management of AF have been taken into consideration. Both standard parameters such as atrial size and volume but also novels like atrial strain and tissue Doppler techniques have been analyzed. Summary: A number of novel echocardiographic parameters have been proven to enable early detection of left atrial dysfunction along with increased diagnosis accuracy. This concerns particularly experienced echocardiographers. Hence, these techniques might improve the prediction of stroke and thromboembolic events among AF patients and need to be further developed and disseminated. Nonetheless, even the standard imaging parameters could be of significant value and should not be discontinued in everyday clinical practice. © 2019, The Author(s)

Constrictive pericarditis associated with right atrial and major venous thrombosis

Right atrial thrombi are very rare. Existence of right atrial thrombus with constrictive pericarditis is even rarer. Only few cases have been reported in the English literature. Here, we report an unusual case of constrictive pericarditis complicated with right atrial and major venous thrombi. The patient underwent a successful pericardiectomy procedure. He had no thrombi during the follow-up period

Isolated ventricular noncompaction

Isolated ventricular noncompaction of myocardium is a rare congenital disease due to an arrest of myocardial morphogenesis during foetal development. It is characterized by a thin compacted epicardial and an extremely thickened endocardial layer with prominent trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses. The persistence of myocardial noncompaction is usually an associated anomaly in patients with congenital left or right ventricular outflow tract obstruction. However, isolated noncompaction of myocardium is not associated with any factors that would explain it apart from the foetal arrest of compaction of the ventricular myocardium. The disease results in systolic and diastolic ventricular dysfunction, systemic embolism and ventricular arrhythmias. We describe a case of isolated noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium in a 20-year-old man who presented initially with ventricular tachycardia

The safety of low-molecular weight heparins for the prevention of thromboembolic events after cardioversion of atrial fibrillation

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) guided early cardioversion (CV) in conjunction with short-term anticoagulation has been shown to be safe, and an alternative to prolonged conventional anticoagulation therapy. Recently, low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) have been used successfully as an alternative to standard heparin therapy obviating the need for hospitalization and APTT monitoring. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and safety of TEE guided early cardioversion in conjunction with short-term LMWH use in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF)

Comparison of rate and rhythm control in patients with atrial fibrillation and nonischemic heart failure

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a very common cardiac arrhythmia with an increased mortality in patients with heart failure. Whether the best therapeutic approach to these patients is to restore sinus rhythm or to adequately control the ventricular rate is still controversial. The aim of this Study was to compare both strategies in patients with AF and nonischemic heart failure