Left Atrial Low vOltage Zone, GenetIC Markers and Outcomes in Patients After Atrial Fibrillation abLation

This prospective, single-centre cohort study aims to investigate the association between known genetic Atrial Fibrillation (AF) risk variants and the amount of left atrial fibrosis found in patients undergoing clinically indicated AF catheter ablation procedures. Left atrial fibrosis is increasingly recognized as a fundamental part of the pathomorphological substrate creating an electrophysiological environment needed for electrical conduction heterogeneities. Such identification and treatment of left atrial fibrosis has already entered routine clinical use for RF catheter ablation in an attempt to develop an individualized and tailored treatment strategy. Today, it is unclear what impacts the development, the extent and the localization of left atrial fibrosis in different patients. A number of genetic risk variants have been described that confer risk of AF and have been widely replicated. This indicates that genetic variants contribute to the risk of the individual to develop AF throughout his life. However, the mechanisms of how genetic variant impact the development of clinical arrhythmias is not yet well understood. We hypothesize that genetic influences that lead to tissue changes may play a role in the development of the arrhythmia substrate for AF. This is likely to be especially true for those with a relatively brief history of AF and modest clinical disease burden. Therefore, we plan to investigate the association between known genetic AF variants and a detailed disease phenotype obtained from individual left atrial voltage mapping.