Relationship between Types of Atrial Fibrillation and Left Atrium Enlargement

Objective To study the relationship between left atrial size and atrial fibrillation.Methods Totally 100 patients with atrial fibrillation,according to the duration of clinical atrial fibrillation,were classified as paroxysmal atrial fibrillation group (n=30,the duration7 days) and persistent atrial fibrillation (n=70,the duration ≥ 7 days.The parameters of left atrial diameter (LAD),left ventricular end diastolic diameter (VDD) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were measured in both groups by echocardiography.Results The values of LAD,VDD and LVEF were respectively (36.5 ± 4.5) mm,(47.4 ± 5.2) mm and (57.2 ± 7.1) % in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation,and (44.8 ± 6.0) mm,(51.2 ± 5.4) mm and (44.6 ± 0.6) % in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation,with significant differences in LAD and VDD between the two (P0.05).Conclusion LAD and VDD are remarkably larger in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation than in patients with persistent arterial fibrillation,so left atrial size is related with type of atrial fibrillation.