Systems and methods for atrial fibrillation treatment and risk assessment

A method for providing a risk assessment for atrial fibrillation (AF) and related health risks, as well as recurrence of atrial arrhythmia after ablation, comprising:

• receiving imaging data for at least a portion of an atrial region of a subject's heart;
• processing said imaging data to characterize tissue as one of fibrotic tissue or non-fibrotic tissue;
• calculating a metric of spatial distribution of at least a portion of said tissue characterized as fibrotic tissue from said processing said imaging data for a plurality of localized regions within said portion of said atrial region of said subject's heart;
• identifying a risk of at least one of developing atrial fibrillation, worsening atrial fibrillation, recurrence of atrial arrhythmias and fibrillation after ablation treatment, heart failure, or stroke based said metric of spatial distribution calculated for said plurality of localized regions.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable code for providing an atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation treatment plan, said computer-executable code comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to:

• receive imaging data for at least a portion of an atrial region of a subject's heart;
• process said imaging data to characterize tissue as one of fibrotic tissue or non-fibrotic tissue;
• calculate a metric of spatial distribution of at least a portion of said tissue characterized as fibrotic tissue from said processing said imaging data;
• identify a cardiac tissue ablation target based on said metric;
• and
• provide an AF treatment plan that includes said cardiac tissue ablation target as at least a portion of said AF treatment plan.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable code for providing a risk assessment for atrial fibrillation (AF) and related health risks, as well as recurrence of atrial arrhythmia after ablation when executed by the computer, causes the computer to:

• receive imaging data for at least a portion of an atrial region of a subject's heart;
• process said imaging data to characterize tissue as one of fibrotic tissue or non-fibrotic tissue;
• calculate a metric of spatial distribution of at least a portion of said tissue characterized as fibrotic tissue from said processing said imaging data for a plurality of localized regions within said portion of said atrial region of said subject's heart;
• identify a risk of at least one of developing atrial fibrillation, worsening atrial fibrillation, recurrence of atrial arrhythmias and fibrillation after ablation treatment, heart failure, or stroke based said metric of spatial distribution calculated for said plurality of localized regions.

A medical imaging system comprising a data processor configured to:

• receive imaging data for at least a portion of an atrial region of a subject's heart;
• process said imaging data to characterize tissue as one of fibrotic tissue or non-fibrotic tissue;
• calculate a metric of spatial distribution of at least a portion of said tissue characterized as fibrotic tissue from said processing said imaging data for a plurality of localized regions within said portion of said atrial region of said subject's heart;
• and
• provide at least one of a map based on said metric, at least one ablation target based on said metric, or a risk assessment for at least one of developing atrial fibrillation, worsening atrial fibrillation, recurrent atrial fibrillation, heart failure, or stroke based said metric.