Methods and Results:
We followed 80 patients (age 60.7 ± 9.7, 31 % women) with PAF
undergoing CBA for one-year post-procedure for the development of
recurrent atrial arrhythmias (AA). Recurrence was assessed by documented
AA on EKG or any form of long-term cardiac rhythm monitoring. The
presence of an LCPV and individual PV diameters were evaluated using
cardiac CT. Based on the maximum and minimum PV ostial diameters, the
eccentricity index (EI), ovality index (OI), and PV ostial area (PVA)
were calculated for all the veins. A multivariable cox-proportional
hazard model assessed whether the presence of an LCPV or PV anatomic
indices (EI, OI and PVA) predicted recurrence of AA following CBA. After
one year follow up, 19 (23.7%) participants developed recurrence of AA.
On multivariable regression, the presence of an LCPV did not predict the
recurrence of AA (p = 0.38). Among the PV anatomical indices, on
univariate analysis, only the area of the left inferior PV showed a
trend towards predicting recurrence, though this result was not
significant on multivariate analysis (p = 0.09).