ANATOMY OF THE LEFT ATRIAL APPENDAGE IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING CT CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY FOR EVALUATION OF CORONARY ATHEROSCLEROSIS

Abstract

Objective: Thromboembolic phenomenon is directly related to atrial fibrillation, a phenomenon being increasingly diagnosed, and LAA has been postulated to be the major cause of its occurrence. Various morphologies of LAA have been discussed with increasing incidence of thrombus formation in certain varieties. In Pakistani population, we are describing the morphology of left atrial appendage for the first time.

Study Design: Prospective descriptive observational study.

Place and duration of study: Department of cardiac CT, Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology and National Institute of heart Diseases from 20th October 2015 to 29th February 2016.

Materials and Methods: We conducted an analysis of LAA morphologies on patients undergoing a CT coronary angiogram for evaluation of coronary atherosclerosis and were found to have normal coronaries.

Results: 100 patients were evaluated. The most frequently found shape was windsock, followed by chicken wing, cauliflower and then swan neck.

Conclusion: We have found similar forms of LAA as those reported in the international data. However the size of LAA was smaller than that reported in other studies, possibly because our study was conducted upon relatively normal population.