Contrast-enhanced CMR in patients after percutaneous closure of the left atrial appendage: A pilot study
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Contrast-enhanced CMR in patients after percutaneous closure of the left atrial appendage: A pilot study Oliver K Mohrs1,2*, Nina Wunderlich3, Steffen E Petersen4, Anselm Pottmeyer1 and Hans-Ulrich Kauczor2
Abstract Background: To evaluate the feasibility and value of first-pass contrast-enhanced dynamic and post-contrast 3D CMR in patients after transcatheter occlusion of left atrial appendage (LAA) to identify incorrect placement and persistent leaks. Methods: 7 patients with different occluder systems (n = 4 PLAATO; n = 2 Watchman; n = 1 ACP) underwent 2 contrast-enhanced (Gd-DOTA) CMR sequences (2D TrueFISP first-pass perfusion and 3D-TurboFLASH) to assess localization, artifact size and potential leaks of the devices. Perfusion CMR was analyzed visually and semiquantitatively to identify potential leaks. Results: All occluders were positioned within the LAA. The ACP occluder presented the most extensive artifact size. Visual assessment revealed a residual perfusion of the LAA apex in 4 cases using first-pass perfusion and 3DTurboFLASH indicating a suboptimal LAA occlusion. By assessing signal-to-time-curves the cases with a visually detected leak showed a 9-fold higher signal-peak in the LAA apex (567 ± 120% increase from baseline signal) than those without a leak (61 ± 22%; p < 0.03). In contrast, the signal increase in LAA proximal to the occluder showed no difference (leak 481 ± 201% vs. no leak 478 ± 125%; p = 0.48). Conclusion: This CMR pilot study provides valuable non-invasive information in patients after transcatheter occlusion of the LAA to identify correct placement and potential leaks. We recommend incorporating CMR in future clinical studies to evaluate new device types.
Background Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and affects 5 percent of people older than 65 years and 10 percent older than 75 years [1]. It represents a major risk factor for ischemic cerebral stroke or peripheral embolism, especially due to embolism of thrombi forming in the left atrial appendage (LAA). LAA is the main location for left atrial thrombus formation related to the phenomenon of atrial stunning [2]. Anticoagulation is required to prevent further cerebral events as patients in atrial fibrillation have a 5-fold higher risk of embolic stroke than those in sinus rhythm [3-5]. * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Darmstadt Radiology, Dpt. of Cardiovascular Imaging at Alice-Hospital, Dieburger Strasse 29-31, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
However, long-term anticoagulation is frequently associated with problems of safety and tolerability, such as increased risk of bleeding. Occlusion of the left atrial appendage could be a potential alternative strategy for prophylaxis of embolism. In comparison to surgical amputation, the percutaneous transcatheter occlusion of LAA is a minimally invasive technique and yields promising results in animal [6] and human studies [7-13]. Currently, followin
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