Left atrial diameter to left atrial appendage emptying velocity ratio predicts risk of recurrence of atrial fibrillation after all-zero fluoroscopy ablation

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the ability of intraprocedural intracardiac echocardiography (ICE)-measured left atrial appendage (LAA) flow characteristics to predict the long-term risk of recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after radiofrequency catheter ablation. METHODS: The study included 105 patients who underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation for AF at our institution between October 2020 and December 2021. Eighty-seven of these patients completed 12 months of follow-up. The anteroposterior left atrial diameter to LAA emptying velocity (LAD/LAAEV) ratio was calculated. The patients were stratified into a recurrence group (n=18) and a non-recurrence group (n=69) based on the 12-month outcome. Predictive performance was evaluated by Cox regression and by receiver-operating characteristic curve and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses. RESULTS: The LAD/LAAEV ratio (P