Atrial electrical and structural changes associated with longstanding hypertension in humans: Implications for the substrate for atrial fibrillation

C Medi; JM Kalman; SJ Spence; AW Teh; G Lee; I Bader; DM Kaye; PM Kistler

Journal article

Atrial electrical and structural changes associated with longstanding hypertension in humans: Implications for the substrate for atrial fibrillation

C Medi, JM Kalman, SJ Spence, AW Teh, G Lee, I Bader, DM Kaye, PM Kistler

Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology | WILEY | Published : 2011

DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-8167.2011.02125.x

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension (HT) is the most common modifiable risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF), yet little is known of the atrial effects of chronic HT in humans. We aimed to characterize the electrophysiologic (EP) and electroanatomic (EA) remodeling of the right atrium (RA) in patients with chronically treated systemic HT and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) without a history of AF. Methods and Results: Twenty patients with (systolic BP 145 ± 10 mmHg) and without (BP 119 ± 11 mmHg, P < 0.01) systemic HT underwent detailed conventional EP and EA voltage and activation mapping. We measured RA refractoriness at the coronary sinus and high septum at cycle lengths (CLs) 600 and 450 ms..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Jonathan Kalman Author

Geoffrey Lee Author

Peter Kistler Author

Andrew Teh Author

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant in aid from the National Heart Foundation. Dr. Medi is supported by a medical postgraduate scholarship from the National Heart Foundation of Australia (NHFA). Dr. Teh is supported by a medical postgraduate scholarship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. Prof. Kistler is supported by Research Investigatorship from the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.Dr. Teh is the recipient of a cardiovascular and lipid research grant from Pfizer. Other authors: No disclosures.