16) Mikael Kortz et al.17) found that the LAA blood flow selleck chemicals llc pattern in healthy subjects was variable, changing from quadri- to tri- and biphasic with increasing heart rate. In another study, a similar relationship was also observed for the RAA. When heart failure or hypertension occurs, one of the most important forms of remodeling is an increase in muscle mass in response to a pressure or Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical volume overload or myocardial injury.18) In cases of ventricular remodeling, both enlargement of the myocytes and interstitial or perivascular fibrosis are observed simultaneously. The peripheral plasma BNP concentration

can be used as a biochemical marker of left ventricular dysfunction. This protein increases not only Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in patients with systolic dysfunction, such as in dilated cardiomyopathy, but also in patients with hypertension or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, of which usually not involve systolic dysfunction. The plasma BNP concentration increases in proportion to the degree of left ventricular end-systolic stress and end-diastolic pressure. Patients with AF showed an inverse correlation between BNP concentration and LAA flow velocity.3) There are few studies about

the RAA, most likely because of its location and clinical importance. The RAA is a cardiac structure that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is difficult to examine using TTE. However, TEE is a good tool to evaluate RAA. In 1999, Bilge et al.19) analyzed RAA blood flow patterns in normal subjects without cardiovascular disease using TEE, resulting in the first study Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical on RAA. Since then, several studies on RAA anatomy and RAA function and its implications for thrombus formation have been reported.12),20),21) In our study, we were able to easily examine RAA function and anatomy using TEE, especially peak emptying velocity and peak filling velocity. LAA and RAA peak emptying and

filling velocities were lower in the AF group compared with those in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the control group. These results suggest that AF leads to decrease not only in LA function but also in RA function. The larger E/e’ in the AF group indicates that AF group has worse LV diastolic dysfunction than SR group. BNP concentration is known to be associated with LA function.22) In our study, BNP level was correlated with LAA and RAA velocity (emptying and filling). BNP concentration may therefore correlate with RAA function. There were several limitations to this study. First, we did not observe significant correlations between variables in patients with AF. This lack of significance Thiamine-diphosphate kinase may be associated with small size of the study group. Second, no hemodynamic parameters like right atrial pressure or right atrial volume were included in the analysis. Third, we could not exclude all possible heart problems which may have affected the SRs of patients used as a control group. Despite these limitations, the results of this study will serve as a very useful reference for future studies about RAA anatomy and function.