1
|
Parra-Lucares A, Villa E, Romero-Hernández E, Méndez-Valdés G, Retamal C, Vizcarra G, Henríquez I, Maldonado-Morales EAJ, Grant-Palza JH, Ruíz-Tagle S, Estrada-Bobadilla V, Toro L. Tic-Tac: A Translational Approach in Mechanisms Associated with Irregular Heartbeat and Sinus Rhythm Restoration in Atrial Fibrillation Patients. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:12859. [PMID: 37629037 PMCID: PMC10454641 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241612859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent cardiac condition predominantly affecting older adults, characterized by irregular heartbeat rhythm. The condition often leads to significant disability and increased mortality rates. Traditionally, two therapeutic strategies have been employed for its treatment: heart rate control and rhythm control. Recent clinical studies have emphasized the critical role of early restoration of sinus rhythm in improving patient outcomes. The persistence of the irregular rhythm allows for the progression and structural remodeling of the atria, eventually leading to irreversible stages, as observed clinically when AF becomes permanent. Cardioversion to sinus rhythm alters this progression pattern through mechanisms that are still being studied. In this review, we provide an in-depth analysis of the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining AF and how they are modified during sinus rhythm restoration using existing therapeutic strategies at different stages of clinical investigation. Moreover, we explore potential future therapeutic approaches, including the promising prospect of gene therapy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alfredo Parra-Lucares
- Critical Care Unit, Department of Medicine, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
- Cardiovascular Department, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | - Eduardo Villa
- School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | | | - Gabriel Méndez-Valdés
- School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | - Catalina Retamal
- School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | - Geovana Vizcarra
- Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | - Ignacio Henríquez
- School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | | | - Juan H. Grant-Palza
- School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | - Sofía Ruíz-Tagle
- School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| | | | - Luis Toro
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
- Centro de Investigación Clínica Avanzada, Hospital Clínico, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380420, Chile
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Telle Å, Bargellini C, Chahine Y, Del Álamo JC, Akoum N, Boyle PM. Personalized biomechanical insights in atrial fibrillation: opportunities & challenges. Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther 2023; 21:817-837. [PMID: 37878350 PMCID: PMC10841537 DOI: 10.1080/14779072.2023.2273896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an increasingly prevalent and significant worldwide health problem. Manifested as an irregular atrial electrophysiological activation, it is associated with many serious health complications. AF affects the biomechanical function of the heart as contraction follows the electrical activation, subsequently leading to reduced blood flow. The underlying mechanisms behind AF are not fully understood, but it is known that AF is highly correlated with the presence of atrial fibrosis, and with a manifold increase in risk of stroke. AREAS COVERED In this review, we focus on biomechanical aspects in atrial fibrillation, current and emerging use of clinical images, and personalized computational models. We also discuss how these can be used to provide patient-specific care. EXPERT OPINION Understanding the connection betweenatrial fibrillation and atrial remodeling might lead to valuable understanding of stroke and heart failure pathophysiology. Established and emerging imaging modalities can bring us closer to this understanding, especially with continued advancements in processing accuracy, reproducibility, and clinical relevance of the associated technologies. Computational models of cardiac electromechanics can be used to glean additional insights on the roles of AF and remodeling in heart function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Åshild Telle
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Clarissa Bargellini
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Yaacoub Chahine
- Division of Cardiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Juan C Del Álamo
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Center for Cardiovascular Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Nazem Akoum
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Division of Cardiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Patrick M Boyle
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Center for Cardiovascular Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Osorio D, Vraka A, Moreno-Arribas J, Bertomeu-González V, Alcaraz R, Rieta JJ. Comparative Study of Methods for Cycle Length Estimation in Fractionated Electrograms of Atrial Fibrillation. J Pers Med 2022; 12:jpm12101712. [PMID: 36294851 PMCID: PMC9604643 DOI: 10.3390/jpm12101712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Atrial cycle length (CL) is an important feature for the analysis of electrogram (EGM) characteristics acquired during catheter ablation (CA) of atrial fibrillation (AF), the commonest cardiac arrhythmia. Nevertheless, a robust ACL estimator requires the precise detection of local activation waves (LAWs), which still remains a challenge. This work aims to compare the performance in (CL) estimation, especially under fractionated EGMs, of three different LAW detection methods relying on different operation strategies. The methods are based on the hyperbolic tangent (HT) function, an adaptive amplitude threshold (AAT) and a (CL) iteration (ACLI), respectively. For each method, LAW detection has been assessed with respect to manual annotations made by two experts and performance has been estimated by confusion matrix and mean and individual (CL) error calculation by EGM types of fractionation. The influence of EGM length on the individual (CL) error has been additionally considered. For the HT method, accuracy, sensitivity and precision were 92.77–100%, while for the AAT and ACLI methods they were 78.89–99.91% for all EGM types. The CL error on the HT method was lower than AAT and ACLI methods (up to 12 ms versus up to 20 ms), with the difference being more prominent in complex EGMs. The HT method also showed the lowest dependency on EGM length, presenting the lowest and least variable error values. Therefore, the HT method achieves higher performance in (CL) estimation in comparison with previous LAW detection techniques. The high robustness and precision demonstrated by this method suggest its implementation on CA mapping devices for a more successful location of ablation targets and improved results during CA procedures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Diego Osorio
- BioMIT.org, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
| | - Aikaterini Vraka
- BioMIT.org, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
| | - José Moreno-Arribas
- Cardiology Department, Saint John’s University Hospital, 03550 Alicante, Spain
| | | | - Raúl Alcaraz
- Research Group in Electronic, Biomedical and Telecommunication Engineering, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 16071 Cuenca, Spain
| | - José J. Rieta
- BioMIT.org, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
- Correspondence:
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Vraka A, Bertomeu-González V, Fácila L, Moreno-Arribas J, Alcaraz R, Rieta JJ. The Dissimilar Impact in Atrial Substrate Modificationof Left and Right Pulmonary Veins Isolation after Catheter Ablation of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation. J Pers Med 2022; 12:jpm12030462. [PMID: 35330463 PMCID: PMC8955667 DOI: 10.3390/jpm12030462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Since the discovery of pulmonary veins (PVs) as foci of atrial fibrillation (AF), the commonest cardiac arrhythmia, investigation revolves around PVs catheter ablation (CA) results. Notwithstanding, CA process itself is rather neglected. We aim to decompose crucial CA steps: coronary sinus (CS) catheterization and the impact of left and right PVs isolation (LPVI, RPVI), separately. We recruited 40 paroxysmal AF patients undergoing first-time CA and obtained five-minute lead II and bipolar CS recordings during sinus rhythm (SR) before CA (B), after LPVI (L) and after RPVI (R). Among others, duration, amplitude and atrial-rate variability (ARV) were calculated for P-waves and CS local activation waves (LAWs). LAWs features were compared among CS channels for reliability analysis. P-waves and LAWs features were compared after each ablation step (B, L, R). CS channels: amplitude and area were different between distal/medial (p≤0.0014) and distal/mid-proximal channels (p≤0.0025). Medial and distal showed the most and least coherent values, respectively. Correlation was higher in proximal (≥93%) than distal (≤91%) areas. P-waves: duration was significantly shortened after LPVI (after L: p=0.0012, −13.30%). LAWs: insignificant variations. ARV modification was more prominent in LAWs (L: >+73.12%, p≤0.0480, R: <−33.94%, p≤0.0642). Medial/mid-proximal channels are recommended during SR. CS LAWs are not significantly affected by CA but they describe more precisely CA-induced ARV modifications. LPVI provokes the highest impact in paroxysmal AF CA, significantly modifying P-wave duration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aikaterini Vraka
- BioMIT.org, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain;
| | - Vicente Bertomeu-González
- Cardiology Department, Saint John’s University Hospital, 03550 Alicante, Spain; (V.B.-G.); (J.M.-A.)
| | - Lorenzo Fácila
- Cardiology Department, General University Hospital Consortium of Valencia, 46014 Valencia, Spain;
| | - José Moreno-Arribas
- Cardiology Department, Saint John’s University Hospital, 03550 Alicante, Spain; (V.B.-G.); (J.M.-A.)
| | - Raúl Alcaraz
- Research Group in Electronic, Biomedical and Telecommunication Engineering, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 16071 Cuenca, Spain;
| | - José J. Rieta
- BioMIT.org, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain;
- Correspondence:
| |
Collapse
|