Atrial Lesion and Diastolic Dysfunction May Be Associated With Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Cardiac Amyloidosis.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia associated with cardiac amyloidosis (CA). Diastolic dysfunction and atrial lesions have been reported in patients with AF fibrillation. We aimed to evaluate the diastolic function and atrial lesions in patients with CA and AF.

Methods and results: We included 27 patients (mean age 72 years) with biopsy-confirmed CA. We analyzed the average E/e' as diastolic function using echocardiography and atrial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) as an atrial lesion using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI). We compared these parameters among 20 patients with sinus rhythm (SR) and 7 with AF. Echocardiography examination showed that average E/e' were larger in the AF group than in the SR group (average E/e': AF, 21.3 [14.5-30.3]; SR, 14.2 [10.3-16.9]; P=0.0053). CMRI demonstrated that atrial LGE was more severe in the AF group than in the SR group (AF, 7/7 [100%]; SR, 11/21 [52.4%]; P=0.00228). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that average E/e' demonstrated significant association with AF in all patients (odds ratio 1.24; [95% confidence interval 1.03-1.51]; P=0.0251).

Conclusions: AF may be associated with atrial lesions and diastolic dysfunction in patients with CA.