Left atrial strain: A potential target to predict atrial fibrillation

Recently, we have read with great interest Dr. Nielsen and colleagues' [1] article that published in International Journal of Cardiology. In this article, they reported that left atrial (LA) deformation analysis could be of use in clinical practice to stratify patients undergoing ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF). Interestingly, one recent study also revealed that left atrial reservoir strain is an independent predictor of incident AF following acute myocardial infarction [2]. The above two studies equally indicated that left atrial strain might be a potential target to predict atrial fibrillation.