Background: Left atrial calcification (LAC) has occasionally been observed in patients who underwent catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) by chest computed tomography (CT). However, the evidence regarding the clinical impact of LAC in patients with AF is lacking.
Objectives: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of LAC in AF patients and evaluate its clinical significance after AF ablation.
Methods: This observational registry included AF patients who received computed tomography and serial transthoracic echocardiography between January 2010 and November 2017. The primary composite outcome included cardiovascular death, hospitalization for worsening heart failure, and ischemic stroke.
Results: Among 534 patients (age 72 ± 13 years, 62.5% men) who met the inclusion criteria, 31 (5.8%) had LAC. In multivariable analysis, AF ablation was associated with an 11.8-fold (OR: 11.8; 95% CI: 2.03-227.65) increased risk of the development of LAC in AF patients. Among 218 patients with AF ablation, LAC was detected in 30 (13.8%) patients. Prior stroke (HR: 2.73; 95% CI: 1.08-6.93) and multiple ablation procedures (HR: 4.21; 95% CI: 1.63-10.87) were independently associated with the development of LAC in AF-ablation patients. During a median follow-up of 5.8 years, the primary composite outcome occurred in 11 patients in the LAC group (39.8 per 1,000 person-years) and 10 patients in the non-LAC group (8.9 per 1,000 person-years). The adjusted HR for the primary composite outcome in the LAC group, as compared with the non-LAC group, was 2.81 (95% CI: 1.16-6.84; P = 0.02).
Conclusions: The presence of LAC was a significant and independent prognostic factor for identifying major adverse cardiovascular events after AF ablation.
Keywords: atrial fibrillation; catheter ablation; left atrial calcification; left atrial remodeling; stiff left atrial physiology.
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