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Original Articles

Prevalence of Coronary Artery Disease Assessed by Multislice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography in Patients With Paroxysmal or Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

Gaetano Nucifora, MD; Joanne D. Schuijf, PhD; Laurens F. Tops, MD; Jacob M. van Werkhoven, MSc; Sami Kajander, MD; J. Wouter Jukema, MD; Joop H.M. Schreur, MD; Mark W. Heijenbrok, MD; Serge A. Trines, MD; Oliver Gaemperli, MD; Olli Turta, BM; Philipp A. Kaufmann, MD; Juhani Knuuti, MD; Martin J. Schalij, MD and Jeroen J. Bax, MD

From the Department of Cardiology (G.N., J.D.S., L.F.T., J.M.v.W., J.W.J., S.A.T., M.J.S., J.J.B.), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences (G.N.), University Hospital "Santa Maria della Misericordia," Udine, Italy; Turku PET Center (S.K., O.T., J.K.), Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland; The Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of The Netherlands (J.W.J.), Utrecht, The Netherlands; Departments of Cardiology and Radiology (J.H.M.S., M.W.H.), Medisch Centrum Haaglanden, Leidschendam, The Netherlands; and Cardiovascular Center (O.G., P.A.K.), and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (P.A.K.), University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Correspondence to Jeroen J. Bax, MD, PhD, Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail J.J.Bax{at}lumc.nl

Received June 26, 2008; accepted January 2, 2009.

Background— Although atrial fibrillation (AF) has been linked to underlying coronary artery disease (CAD), data supporting this association have been based on ECG and clinical history for the definition of CAD rather than direct visualization of atherosclerosis.

Methods and Results— The prevalence of CAD among patients with paroxysmal or persistent AF and without history of CAD was evaluated using multislice computed tomography. Multislice computed tomography was performed in 150 patients with AF (61±11 years, 67% males, 58% asymptomatic) with predominantly low (59%) or intermediate (25%) pretest likelihood of CAD. CAD was classified as obstructive (50% luminal narrowing) or not. A population of 148 patients without history of AF, similar to the AF group as to age, gender, symptomatic status, and pretest likelihood, served as a control group. Logistic regression analysis was applied to evaluate the relationship between demographic and clinical data and the presence of obstructive CAD. On the basis of multislice computed tomography, 18% of patients with AF were classified as having no CAD, whereas 41% showed nonobstructive CAD and the remaining 41% had obstructive CAD. Among patients without AF, 32% were classified as having no CAD, whereas 41% showed nonobstructive CAD and 27% had obstructive CAD (P=0.010 compared with patients with AF). At logistic regression analysis, age, male gender, and the presence of AF were significantly related to obstructive CAD.

Conclusion— A higher prevalence of obstructive CAD was observed among patients with AF, confirming the hypothesis that AF could be a marker of advanced coronary atherosclerosis.

Key Words: atrial fibrillation • coronary disease • multislice computed tomography • prevalence • risk stratification

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CLINICAL PERSPECTIVE

Related Article

Prevalence of Coronary Artery Disease Assessed by Multislice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography in Patients With Paroxysmal or Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

Gaetano Nucifora, Joanne D. Schuijf, Laurens F. Tops, Jacob M. van Werkhoven, Sami Kajander, J. Wouter Jukema, Joop H.M. Schreur, Mark W. Heijenbrok, Serge A. Trines, Oliver Gaemperli, Olli Turta, Philipp A. Kaufmann, Juhani Knuuti, Martin J. Schalij, and Jeroen J. Bax
Circ Cardiovasc Imaging 2009 2: 100-106. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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