1. INTRODUCTION
New onset atrial arrhythmia (AA), including atrial fibrillation (AF) and
atrial tachycardia (AT), can occur after mitral valve repair in patients
with mitral regurgitation (MR). Post-operative AF has been reported to
be associated with long-term all-cause mortality.1,2However, a predictor of post-operative AA has not been fully elucidated.
A previous study has shown that the post-operative aorto-mitral angle is
associated with the reverse remodeling of the left atrium (LA) after a
mitral valve repair.3 Consequently, we hypothesized
that the post-operative aorto-mitral angle might also relate to the
occurrence of post-operative AA. The purpose of the present study was to
determine whether the post-operative aorto-mitral angle could predict
new onset AA after mitral valve repair with mitral annuloplasty for
treating MR.