Background: There is limited knowledge about the impact of anatomic gaps as assessed by delayed gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance on atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after first pulmonary vein (PV) isolation.
Methods: Consecutive patients underwent delayed gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance 3 months after radiofrequency circumferential PV isolation. Delayed gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance images were assessed from 360 PV resulting in 2880 segments in the 2×8-segment model from 94 patients (52±11 years, 62% paroxysmal AF). Left atria were segmented using dedicated software. Anatomic gap was defined as discontinuation of the ablation line by ≥3 mm. Relative gap length was calculated as absolute gap length divided by the total length of the ablation line. AF recurrence was assessed after a mean follow-up duration of 15±10 months Results: Mean number of anatomic gaps was 5.4 per patient. Recurrence within the first year of ablation was observed in 21 patients with paroxysmal AF (36%) and 19 patients with persistent AF (53%). In the univariate analysis, CHA2DS2-VASc score, AF type, and relative gap length were predictive of recurrence. In the multivariate analysis, only relative gap length was significantly associated with recurrence (hazard ratio, 1.16 [1.02-1.31] per each 10% of gap).
Conclusions: The total relative gap length but not the number of anatomic gaps in the PV ablation line as assessed by delayed gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance was associated with AF recurrence 1 year after first PV isolation. An increase of 10% relative gap length increased the likelihood of AF recurrence by 16%.
Keywords: atrial fibrillation; magnetic resonance imaging; pulmonary veins.