Left atrial mass: relationship between gross anatomy and quantitative echocardiography

Abstract

Background: Left atrial (LA) enlargement is associated with increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Unlike the left ventricular mass, LA mass has not been described. We sought to define the anatomic mass of the LA using anatomic specimens from autopsy. We hypothesized that LA mass could be estimated by echocardiography.

Methods and results: Using anatomic specimens of 22 subjects who died and underwent post mortem examination as well as echocardiogram, we defined normal LA mass by weighing anatomic specimens of those with normal LA volume on echocardiogram. Using 17 subjects with normal LA volume on echocardiogram, we found their LA mass on anatomic specimens to be 25.5 ± 6.3 grams (14.4 ± 3.2 g/m²). We developed an echocardiographic measure of LA mass and validated this measurement with paired LA anatomic specimens. We found the normal LA mass on echocardiogram to be 25.4 ± 6.3 g (14.4 ± 2.8 g/m²) which correlated well with anatomic specimens (β = 0.99; Confidence interval CI 0.6-1.4, P < .0001; Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.83). Furthermore, we defined the normal LA volume to mass ratio as 1.38 ± 0.45.

Conclusions: LA mass is an additional parameter with which may contribute to the study of LA morphology.

Keywords: Autopsy; Echocardiography; Left atrial mass; Left atrium.