Abstract 20018: Increased Blood Stasis in the LV of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Recent studies have shown that atrial stasis may not be the unique source of cardioembolism in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). In the healthy left ventricle (LV), the intraventricular flow arrangement has been proposed to optimize blood mixing within the chamber. However, blood flow patterns in the LV are highly sensitive to the timing intervals of the cardiac cycle, being altered if active atrial contraction is lost. Thus, in patients with AF, impaired blood mixing may result in blood stasis and thrombogenesis in the LV. Our objective is to quantify LV stasis in paced ventricular rhythm (to avoid the confusion related to irregularity) in order to compare patients with AF and patients with sinus rhythm. Two-dimensional flow velocity fields from color Doppler echocardiographic sequences were obtained in 21 patients with AF and VVI paced ventricular rhythm (AF-VVI) and in 21 patients in sinus rhythm (SR) with VDD paced ventricular rhythm (SR-VDD). Using the advection equation for the residence time ...