Key result
High-resolution epicardial mapping strongly links conduction block to right atrial long double potentials.
Why the study?
Inhomogeneous intra-atrial conduction facilitates atrial fibrillation and affects electrogram morphology, prompting investigation of regional electrogram features during sinus rhythm to design a patient-specific signal fingerprint.
Observational (n=189)
No
High-resolution epicardial mapping during sinus rhythm identifies regional differences in electrogram features, suggesting that a patient-specific signal fingerprint could serve as a diagnostic tool for conduction inhomogeneity.
May identify conduction inhomogeneity via long double potentials; leaves open prospective validation before clinical adoption.
BACKGROUND: Inhomogeneous intra-atrial conduction facilitates both initiation and perpetuation of atrial fibrillation (AF) and is reflected in electrogram (EGM) morphology. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study is to investigate regional differences in features of different EGM types during sinus rhythm (SR) and to design a patient-specific signal fingerprint, which quantifies the severity and extensiveness of inhomogeneity in conduction. METHODS: = 189, 86% male; mean age 65 ± 9 years) undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) underwent high-resolution mapping of the right atrium (RA), left atrium (LA), and pulmonary vein area (PVA) including Bachmann's bundle (BB). EGMs during 5 s of SR were classified as single potentials (SPs), short double potentials (SDPs, interval between deflections < 15 ms), long double potentials (LDPs, deflection interval > 15 ms), or fractionated potentials (FPs, ≥3 deflections). Of all SPs, differences in relative R- and S-wave amplitude were calculated (R/S ratios). Time difference between first and last deflection was determined (fractionation duration, FD) and potentials with amplitudes < 1.0 mV were labeled as low-voltage. Conduction block (CB) was defined as a difference in local activation time (LAT) between adjacent electrodes of ≥12 ms. RESULTS: A total of 1,763,593 EGMs (9,331 ± 3,336 per patient) were classified (Table 1). CONCLUSION: The signal fingerprint, consisting of quantified EGM features, including the R/S ratio of SPs, the relative frequency distribution of unipolar voltages, the proportion of low-voltage areas, the proportion of the different types of EGMs, and durations of LDP and FDP, may serve as a diagnostic tool to determine the severity and extensiveness of conduction inhomogeneity. Further studies are required to determine whether the signal fingerprint can be used to identify patients at risk for AF onset or progression.
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Ye et al. (2021) conducted an observational in Coronary artery disease without history of arrhythmias (n=189). High-resolution epicardial mapping was evaluated on Regional differences in features of different electrogram types during sinus rhythm. High-resolution epicardial mapping during sinus rhythm demonstrated that conduction block strongly correlated with the proportion of long double potentials at the right atrium (r=0.83).
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