# New 3D and 4D Image-Based Clinical Measures of Atrial Structural and Functional Remodeling in Atrial Fibrillation

> **NIH NIH R01** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2020 · $343,125

## Abstract

Project Summary
This proposal focuses on the development of new clinical measures of atrial shape for better individualized
patient care of atrial fibrillation and advances the state-of-the art in computational methods for the statistical
analysis of shape in clinical image data. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in adults,
with over 400,000 U.S. hospital admissions per year, annual costs in the U.S. of $6-7 billion, and an almost
two-fold increase in the risk of mortality. We will develop and test new cardiac shape-based predictors of AF
outcomes in a large patient population, including patients enrolled in the fully-funded multicenter DECAAF II
clinical trial. This proposal will impact clinical science and standards of care for AF patients through (1) the
development of a new MRI-based measure of dynamic cardiac shape and associated deformations over the
cardiac cycle and investigation of the dynamic (4D) structural changes to the atria after catheter ablation; (2)
the development of shape-based predictors of AF treatment outcomes and risk factors for stroke; and (3)
shape analysis of the atria and prospective evaluation of shape-based predictive indices in the DECAAF II
clinical trial population. Technological contributions of this work will impact the field of biomedical shape
analysis through the development of methods for analysis of spatiotemporal (4D) anatomical shape and the
development of more powerful modeling algorithms for the highly variable anatomy of the heart. This project
combines the clinical experience and research infrastructure of the University of Utah's Comprehensive
Arrhythmia Research and Management (CARMA) Center with the computational resources and expertise of
the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute and leverages our unique access to a large cohort of MRI
image data from AF patients enrolled in the multicenter DECAAF II clinical trial. Our team consists of an
accomplished mix of computer scientists, electrophysiologists, and MRI physicists.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9993565
- **Project number:** 5R01HL135568-04
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** Joshua E Cates
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $343,125
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9993565

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9993565, New 3D and 4D Image-Based Clinical Measures of Atrial Structural and Functional Remodeling in Atrial Fibrillation (5R01HL135568-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9993565. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*