Synchronization of right atrial electrical activity during atrial fibrillation using multipolar basket catheter

The authors tested an Index of Synchronization (IS) between the electrical activations of relatively close atrial sites during various atrial tachiarrhythmias. Data were obtained using multipolar basket catheter in the right atrium, in 17 informed patients during normal sinus rhythm (NSR, 3 pts.), atrial flutter (AFlu, 2 pts.), high frequency pacing (HFP, 3 pts.) and Atrial Fibrillation (AF, 12 pts.), 10 segments each. From the 24 couples of bipoles of the same splines the authors extract a single averaged IS and its standard deviation. IS was 1 in NSR and HFP, 0.95/spl plusmn/0.02 during AFlu. During AF, IS varied significantly among the recording sites, showing a patient-dependent pattern and an increase of the arrhythmia complexity. In AF it provides a quantitative measure of the degree of coupling of various atrial sites. It can be considered as a descriptor of the electrophysiological properties of atrial tissues, whose clinical usefulness is worth to be further investigated.