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Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts

Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of thrombus formation. It is commonly responsible for cerebral stroke whereas less frequently for pulmonary embolism. The aim of the study was to describe the morphology of the left atrial appendage in the human heart with respect to sex, age and weight. Macros...

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Autores principales: Kamiński, Rafał, Kosiński, Adam, Brala, Mariola, Piwko, Grzegorz, Lewicka, Ewa, Dąbrowska-Kugacka, Alicja, Raczak, Grzegorz, Kozłowski, Dariusz, Grzybiak, Marek
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4636143/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26544191
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141901
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author Kamiński, Rafał
Kosiński, Adam
Brala, Mariola
Piwko, Grzegorz
Lewicka, Ewa
Dąbrowska-Kugacka, Alicja
Raczak, Grzegorz
Kozłowski, Dariusz
Grzybiak, Marek
author_facet Kamiński, Rafał
Kosiński, Adam
Brala, Mariola
Piwko, Grzegorz
Lewicka, Ewa
Dąbrowska-Kugacka, Alicja
Raczak, Grzegorz
Kozłowski, Dariusz
Grzybiak, Marek
author_sort Kamiński, Rafał
collection PubMed
description Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of thrombus formation. It is commonly responsible for cerebral stroke whereas less frequently for pulmonary embolism. The aim of the study was to describe the morphology of the left atrial appendage in the human heart with respect to sex, age and weight. Macroscopic examination was carried out on 100 left appendages taken from the hearts of the patients aged 18–77, both sexes. All hearts preserved in 4% water solution of formaldehyde carried neither marks of coronary artery disease nor congenital abnormalities. Three axes of appendage orientation were performed. After the appendage had been cut off, morphological examination was performed in long and perpendicular axes. Measurements of the appendages were taken from anatomical specimens and their silicone casts. We classified the left atrial appendage into 4 morphological groups according to the number of lobes. Most left atrial appendages in female population were composed of 2 lobes. In the male group typically 2 or 3-lobed appendages were observed. The mean left atrial appendage orifice ranged from 12.0 to 16.0 mm and the most significant difference in the orifices between males and females was observed in LAA type 2 (about 3.3 mm). A smaller orifice and narrower, tubular shape of the LAA lobes could explain a higher risk of thrombus formation during nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in women. Knowledge of anatomical variability of the LAA helps diagnose some undefined echoes in the appendage during transesophageal echocardiographic examination.
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spelling pubmed-46361432015-11-13 Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts Kamiński, Rafał Kosiński, Adam Brala, Mariola Piwko, Grzegorz Lewicka, Ewa Dąbrowska-Kugacka, Alicja Raczak, Grzegorz Kozłowski, Dariusz Grzybiak, Marek PLoS One Research Article Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of thrombus formation. It is commonly responsible for cerebral stroke whereas less frequently for pulmonary embolism. The aim of the study was to describe the morphology of the left atrial appendage in the human heart with respect to sex, age and weight. Macroscopic examination was carried out on 100 left appendages taken from the hearts of the patients aged 18–77, both sexes. All hearts preserved in 4% water solution of formaldehyde carried neither marks of coronary artery disease nor congenital abnormalities. Three axes of appendage orientation were performed. After the appendage had been cut off, morphological examination was performed in long and perpendicular axes. Measurements of the appendages were taken from anatomical specimens and their silicone casts. We classified the left atrial appendage into 4 morphological groups according to the number of lobes. Most left atrial appendages in female population were composed of 2 lobes. In the male group typically 2 or 3-lobed appendages were observed. The mean left atrial appendage orifice ranged from 12.0 to 16.0 mm and the most significant difference in the orifices between males and females was observed in LAA type 2 (about 3.3 mm). A smaller orifice and narrower, tubular shape of the LAA lobes could explain a higher risk of thrombus formation during nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in women. Knowledge of anatomical variability of the LAA helps diagnose some undefined echoes in the appendage during transesophageal echocardiographic examination. Public Library of Science 2015-11-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4636143/ /pubmed/26544191 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141901 Text en © 2015 Kamiński et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kamiński, Rafał
Kosiński, Adam
Brala, Mariola
Piwko, Grzegorz
Lewicka, Ewa
Dąbrowska-Kugacka, Alicja
Raczak, Grzegorz
Kozłowski, Dariusz
Grzybiak, Marek
Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts
title Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts
title_full Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts
title_fullStr Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts
title_full_unstemmed Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts
title_short Variability of the Left Atrial Appendage in Human Hearts
title_sort variability of the left atrial appendage in human hearts
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4636143/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26544191
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141901
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