Background: As has been shown previously, patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who have left atrial thrombus (LAT) also have elevated plasma concentrations of fibrinogen. In this study, we tried to determine if this is the consequence of a genetic trait and whether elevated concentrations of fibrinogen could be used to predict LAT in patients with AF.
Methods: We recruited 181 consecutive patients scheduled for pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) or direct current cardioversion. The primary endpoint was the presence of LAT on transesophageal echocardiography (TOE). We recorded routine clinical and biochemical data as well as the polymorphism type of the fibrinogen gene for the β chain. To control potentially interfering variables, we performed propensity score matching (PSM). Multivariable and univariable logistic regression models (LRM) were computed using the CHA2DS2-Vasc score, the fibrinogen concentration and creatinine clearance as estimated by the Cockcroft-Gault equation.
Results: 60 of 181 patients had LAT as detected by TOE. As expected, patients with LAT had significantly higher concentrations of fibrinogen (3.9 vs. 3.6 g/L); p = 0.01 in the unadjusted analysis. After performing PSM, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups, except for creatinine clearance (79.9 vs. 96.8 mL/min); p = 0.01. There were also no differences regarding the -455 G/A βfibrinogen polymorphism distribution between the two groups. After constructing the LRM, we found no performance enhancement for the CHA2DS2-Vasc score by adding the fibrinogen concentration or creatinine clearance alone, but when all three variables were put together, there was a significant improvement in LAT prediction (AUC 0.64 vs. 0.72), p = 0.026.
Conclusion: Our study found no evidence of elevated levels of circulating fibrinogen in patients with LAT or a connection between those levels and the A/A and A positive polymorphism. When used together with renal function markers such as creatinine clearance, plasma fibrinogen concentrations can provide additional power to the CHA2DS2-Vasc score for predicting LAT.
Keywords: atrial fibrillation; fibrinogen gene polymorphism; left atrial thrombus; prediction model.