Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36349600›Full record

ArticleEuropace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology2023

Quantitative assessment of transmural fibrosis profile in the human atrium: evidence for a three-dimensional arrhythmic substrate by slice-to-slice histology.

Flavia Ravelli, Michela Masè, Alessandro Cristoforetti, Laura Avogaro, Elvira D'Amato, Francesco Tessarolo, Federico Piccoli, Angelo Graffigna

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed
3.8field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Effect of fibrosis regionality on atrial fibrillation recurrence: insights from DECAAF II.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023
    Trial
  2. Atrial Substrate Progression in AF Patients: Insights From Unipolar Mapping.Pacing and clinical electrophysiology : PACE · 2026
    Article
  3. Histological evaluation of clinically defined atrial cardiomyopathy stages and their association with atrial fibrillation burden under continuous monitoring for a 2.5-year follow-up.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2026
    Article
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  10. Atrial cardiomyopathy revisited-evolution of a concept: a clinical consensus statement of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the ESC, the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), the Asian Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS), and the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society (LAHRS).Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2024
    Article
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  15. Dynamic changes of left atrial substrate over time following pulmonary vein isolation: the Progress-AF study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023
    Observational
  16. 25 years of basic and translational science in EP Europace: novel insights into arrhythmia mechanisms and therapeutic strategies.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023
    Review
  17. Baseline left atrial low-voltage area predicts recurrence after pulmonary vein isolation: WAVE-MAP AF results.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023
    Article
  18. Magnetic resonance detection of advanced atrial cardiomyopathy increases the risk for atypical atrial flutter occurrence following atrial fibrillation ablation.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023
    Article
  19. Unipolar-voltage-based evaluation of left atrial tissue properties and ablation outcome in patients with atrial fibrillation.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Flavia RavelliLaboratory of Biophysics and Translational Cardiology, Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology-CIBIO, University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-6819-3668
Michela MasèLaboratory of Biophysics and Translational Cardiology, Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology-CIBIO, University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Alessandro CristoforettiLaboratory of Biophysics and Translational Cardiology, Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology-CIBIO, University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-1665-6656
Laura AvogaroLaboratory of Biophysics and Translational Cardiology, Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology-CIBIO, University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Elvira D'AmatoDepartment of Physics, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
Francesco TessaroloDepartment of Industrial Engineering and BIOtech, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-4022-5602
Federico PiccoliDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
Angelo GraffignaDepartment of Cardiac Surgery, Santa Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
University of Trento · ITOspedale Santa Chiara · IT

Funding

Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto 2011.0194
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsIntramural fibrosis represents a crucial factor in the formation of a three-dimensional (3D) substrate for atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the transmural distribution of fibrosis and its relationship with atrial overload remain largely unknown. The aim of this study is to quantify the transmural profile of atrial fibrosis in patients with different degrees of atrial dilatation and arrhythmic profiles by a high-resolution 3D histology method. METHODS AND

resultsSerial microtome-cut tissue slices, sampling the entire atrial wall thickness at 5 µm spatial resolution, were obtained from right atrial appendage specimens in 23 cardiac surgery patients. Atrial slices were picrosirius red stained, imaged by polarized light microscopy, and analysed by a custom-made segmentation algorithm. In all patients, the intramural fibrosis content displayed a progressive decrease alongside tissue depth, passing from 68.6 ± 11.6% in the subepicardium to 10-13% in the subendocardium. Distinct transmural fibrotic profiles were observed in patients with atrial dilatation with respect to control patients, where the first showed a slower decrease of fibrosis along tissue depth (exponential decay constant: 171.2 ± 54.5 vs. 80.9 ± 24.4 µm, P < 0.005). Similar slow fibrotic profiles were observed in patients with AF (142.8 ± 41.7 µm). Subepicardial and midwall levels of fibrosis correlated with the degree of atrial dilatation (ρ = 0.72, P < 0.001), while no correlation was found in subendocardial layers.

conclusionsQuantification of fibrosis transmural profile at high resolution is feasible by slice-to-slice histology. Deeper penetration of fibrosis in subepicardial and midwall layers in dilated atria may concur to the formation of a 3D arrhythmic substrate.

Indexed as

Atrial FibrillationFibrosisHeart AtriaHumansAtrial fibrillationAtrial overloadFibrosisMyocardial slicesStructural remodelling

Identifiers

PMID36349600
PMCPMC9935010
OpenAlexW4308603431

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.