A catalog of anatomic varieties may help practitioners more accurately tailor their approach to each patient and aid the development of more effective tools to assist left atrial ablation in patients with atrial fibrillation, the researchers noted.
To examine this question, the group looked at CT data from 465 patients (75% men; mean age, 58 years) being scanned preprocedurally. CT scans were performed during a breath-hold using electrocardiogram-gated acquisition and contrast enhancement.
The researchers found considerable anatomic variation. The standard of two left and two right pulmonary veins (PVs) did not apply to 35% of the patients; for example, 16% of patients had two left and three right PVs, 2% had two left and four right PVs, etc. Eighty percent of right PVs were larger than their corresponding left PVs, and 71% of superior PVs were larger than their corresponding inferior PVs.
The data may be helpful in designing approaches for left atrial ablation, procedure planning for individual patients, and developing better ablation tools, Hare will report.
