107
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      The left atrial appendage: anatomy, function, and noninvasive evaluation.

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a finger-like extension originating from the main body of the left atrium. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common clinically important cardiac arrhythmia, occurring in approximately 0.4% to 1% of the general population and increasing with age to >8% in those >80 years of age. In the presence of AF thrombus, formation often occurs within the LAA because of reduced contractility and stasis; thus, attention should be given to the LAA when evaluating and assessing patients with AF to determine the risk for cardioembolic complications. It is clinically important to understand LAA anatomy and function. It is also critical to choose the optimal imaging techniques to identify or exclude LAA thrombi in the setting of AF, before cardioversion, and with current and emerging transcatheter therapies, which include mitral balloon valvuloplasty, pulmonary vein isolation, MitraClip (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois) valve repair, and the implantation of LAA occlusion and exclusion devices. In this review, we present the current data regarding LAA anatomy, LAA function, and LAA imaging using the currently available noninvasive imaging modalities.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          JACC Cardiovasc Imaging
          JACC. Cardiovascular imaging
          1876-7591
          1876-7591
          Dec 2014
          : 7
          : 12
          Affiliations
          [1 ] The Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California; The Heart Institute, Sheba Medical Center, and the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
          [2 ] Cardiovascular Center Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany.
          [3 ] Cardiac Morphology Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, England.
          [4 ] The Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
          [5 ] The Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California. Electronic address: Robert.siegel@cshs.org.
          Article
          S1936-878X(14)00739-6
          10.1016/j.jcmg.2014.08.009
          25496544
          bc296b76-f162-405a-861a-a330c6f1bca1
          Copyright © 2014 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
          History

          anatomy,function,left atrial appendage,noninvasive imaging,thromboembolism

          Comments

          Comment on this article