Controlling the ventricular rate during both paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF), initially with digitalis preparations and subsequently with -blockers and calcium channel blockers, has been a mainstay for the management of this arrhythmia for many years. With the advent of a wide range of pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches for maintaining sinus rhythm, rhythm cont...

BACKGROUND Two types of myocardia can be observed through the endocardial spectral mapping (SM) in sinus rhythm: the compact type with a smooth spectrum and the fibrillar type with a segmented spectrum (atrial fibrillation nests). During the atrial fibrillation (AF), the compact type has an organized activation and low frequency (passive), whereas the fibrillar type has a rather disorganized ac...

Long-term medical treatment options for atrial fibrillation (AF) include rate-control as well as rhythm-control therapy with various antiarrhythmics. However, because of the limited efficacy and potential side effects of these medications, percutaneous and surgical ablations in AF patients have evolved as alternative or additional approaches to achieve rhythm-control. Nonetheless, arrhythmia re...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with a significant mortality and morbidity. Microwave (MW) ablation is a new technology for surgical treatment of this arrhythmia. We present our preliminary experience with MW ablation in patients with AF who underwent a concomitant open-heart surgery. From October 2001 to March 2002, a total of 10 patients underwent MW ablation of AF and an open-heart su...

The heterogeneous presentation and progression of atrial fibrillation (AF) implicate the existence of different pathophysiological processes. Individualized diagnosis and therapy of the arrhythmogenic substrate underlying AF may be required to improve treatment outcomes. Therefore, this single-center study aims to identify the arrhythmogenic areas underlying AF by intra-operative, high-resoluti...

Controlling the ventricular rate during both paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF), initially with digitalis preparations and subsequently with -blockers and calcium channel blockers, has been a mainstay for the management of this arrhythmia for many years. With the advent of a wide range of pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches for maintaining sinus rhythm, rhythm cont...

BACKGROUND Persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) leads to electrical, structural and neurohormonal remodelling of the atria, including increased plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level. AIM To assess the clinical value of plasma BNP or NT-proBNP concentrations in patients with persistent AF measured before and after sinus rhythm restoration following direct-current cardioversion. METHOD...

OBJECTIVES This study tested the hypothesis that response to antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) is modulated by 3 common loci associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). BACKGROUND Recent genome-wide association studies have identified 3 loci, on chromosomes 4q25 (near PITX2), 16q22 (in ZFHX3), and 1q21 (in KCNN3), that associate with either typical or lone AF. These findings indicate that variable me...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of intravenous RSD1235 in terminating recent onset atrial fibrillation (AF). BACKGROUND Anti-arrhythmic drugs currently available to terminate AF have limited efficacy and safety. RSD1235 is a novel atrial selective anti-arrhythmic drug. METHODS This was a phase II, multi-centered, randomized, double-blinded, step...

An immediate recurrence of AF may occur after restoration of sinus rhythm. Although pulmonary vein (PV) isolation has been shown to prevent immediate recurrence of AF, the specific trigger for immediate recurrence of AF has not been described. In 89 consecutive patients (mean age 53 +/- 11 years) who had sinus rhythm restored by spontaneous or transthoracic cardioversion in the course of a PV i...