Evaluation of Left Atrial Intracardiac 4D Flow–Wall Mechanics Coupling in Secondary Mitral Regurgitation

Motivation: Analyzing atrial mechanics and flow dynamics in healthy volunteers vs patients with secondary mitral regurgitation associated with heart failure. Goal(s): What atrial mechanics/flow dynamics alterations in the left atrium are related to secondary mitral regurgitation. Approach: Left atrial 4D flow and wall strain analysis was performed in controls and secondary mitral regurgitation patients. Flow and mechanics' parameters were compared between the two groups, correlations between flow and strain parameters were performed for both groups and compared between the groups. Results: Patients with secondary mitral regurgitation showed stronger LA mechanics-flow dynamics correlations, even stronger when the mitral regurgitation severity increased. Impact: Analysis of left atrial flow dynamics/wall mechanics provide a physiology based analysis of secondary mitral valve regurgitation (MVR). This opens the door to analyzing different types of MVR (primary vs secondary) and other cardiac pathologies from a flow/mechanics perspective.