Atrial electrophysiological characteristics of aging

Figures

• 

  Figure 1. The upper panel depicts an overview of the mapping locations on a posterior view of the heart. The middle panel shows three sinus beats on two electrograms with atrial potentials followed by a ventricular far‐field signal. The lower panel illustrates the various wavefront entry sites on BB, which are explained further in the text. Activation maps are depicted with 10 ms isochrones, arrows show the main direction of wavefront propagation and thick black lines indicate CB area. A, atrial signal; BB, Bachmann's bundle; CT, crista terminalis; IVC, inferior vena cava; LA, left atrium; PVA, pulmonary vein area; RA, right atrium; SVC, superior vena cava; V, ventricular far‐field signal

• 

  Figure 2. The upper panel shows a histogram depicting the relative distribution of age in the study population. The lower panel demonstrates the distribution of CB prevalence and CV of a typical younger (left) and older (right) patient. See text for further description. CB, conduction block; CV, conduction velocity; IVC, inferior vena cava; SVC, superior vena cava

• 

  Figure 3. The correlation between age and maximum CB prevalence (upper panel) and age and lowest CV (lower panel). Colors indicate the location of maximum CB prevalence and lowest CV. Lines indicate 95% confidence intervals. *Max %CB: p = .001/Min CV: p = .004. CB, conduction block, CV, conduction velocity

• 

  Figure 4. The upper panel shows examples of a low TL4 ratio in a young patient (left) and a high TL4 ratio in an old patient (right). Arrows show the main direction of wavefront propagation, thick blue and black lines show CT's ≥4 ms, respectively, in transversal and longitudinal direction. The lower panel depicts the correlation between age and TL4 ratio in patients with a RA entry site (n = 116). Lines indicate 95% confidence intervals. *p = .022. CT, conduction time

• 

  Figure 5. Plots demonstrating the relation between voltage and age for each location separately. Lines indicate 95% confidence intervals. *RA: p < .0005, BB: p < .0005. BB, Bachmann's bundle; LA, left atrium; PVA, pulmonary vein area; RA, right atrium