الفهرس 
Atrial fibrillion and agingOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Age is an independent risk factor for thromboembolism in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation NVAF. An association between low left atrial appendage (LAA) Doppler velocities and thromboembolic risk in NVAF has been reported. Aim of the work: The aim of this study is to identify age-related differences in LAA function that may explain the higher thromboembolic rates in older patients with NVAF Methods: Fifty consecutive patients [32 patients age range 29-59 years and 18 patients age range 60-72 years & 23 were men] with NVAF underwent transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography. The following were compared in 32 patients younger and 18 older than 60 years: ejection fraction, left atrial (LA) diameter and area, LAA length ,neck diameter and LAA peak emptying (PE) and peak filling (PF) velocities, presence and severity of spontaneous echo contrast(SEC), thrombi formation and presence of mild mitral regurgitation (MR). Statistical analysis: by CHI-SQUARED test which was applied for comparison of imaging results. Results: Left atrial diameter mean (4.87+0.53 vs. 4.51+0.65cm), LA area (25.92+5.51 vs. 24.21+6.1 cm2), LAA length mean (2.61+0.31 vs. 2.81+0.31cm), and LAA neck diameter mean (0.67+0.19 vs. 0.68+0.18 cm) were similar (p>0.05) in both groups. Older patients had lower LAA emptying velocities (16.2+2.60 vs. 30.9+8.61cm/sec, p = 0.001) and filling (17.2+2.41
vs. 31.9+8.71 cm/sec, p = 0.001) velocities and non-statistically higher LV ejection fraction (52.21+5.50 vs. 51.74+11.8%, p = 0.634).Mild degree MR frequency was increased in younger patients (21.9% vs. 5.6%) while severity of SEC was more in older patients (2.83+0.88 vs. 1.45+1.20) and also LAA thrombi were increased in older group (38.9 vs. 15.6%). Multivariate analysis identified older age as the only significant predictor of reduced LAA velocities.