Atrial fibrillation ablation is a complex and challenging procedure. Appropriate patient selection is the most critical step to ensure safe and successful atrial fibrillation ablation procedure. The DECAAF study (Delayed-Enhancement MRI Determinant of Successful Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation) showed that atrial tissue fibrosis, as estimated by delayed enhancement magne...

To test the hypothesis that atrial enlargement can develop as a consequence of atrial fibrillation, left and right atrial dimensions were measured echocardiographically at two different time points in patients with atrial fibrillation. Patients were selected who initially had normal atrial sizes and who had no evidence of significant structural or functional cardiac abnormalities other than atr...

To test the hypothesis that atrial enlargement can develop as a consequence of atrial fibrillation, left and right atrial dimensions were measured echocardiographically at two different time points in patients with atrial fibrillation. Patients were selected who initially had normal atrial sizes and who had no evidence of significant structural or functional cardiac abnormalities other than atr...

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation is associated with embolic strokes that often result in death or disability. Effective in reducing these events, anticoagulation has several limitations and has been widely underutilized. Over 90% of thrombi identified in patients with atrial fibrillation without valvular disease originate in the left atrial appendage, whose occlusion is investigated as an alterna...

Atrial fibrillation and hypertension are 2 prevalent, and often coexistent, conditions in the North American population. Their incidence increases with advancing age, and they are responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality. Although the relation between the 2 conditions has long been known, the treatment of hypertension is not currently a focus in the clinical management of atrial fib...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To determine baseline volume and rate of volume change of whole brain, hippocampus, and entorhinal cortex in patients with atrial fibrillation. METHODS We analyzed clinical and neuroimaging data collected as part of Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative in the United States and Canada. Patients with atrial fibrillation were identified based on baseline clinical/co...

drug therapy, but not so after adjustment for left ventricular ejection fraction, left atrial diameter or duration of atrial fibrillation. We feel that our results justify the conclusion that “patients who undergo electrical cardioversion display a greater degree and longer duration of mechanical atrial dysfunction than those who convert pharmacologically or spontaneously” (1). We agree with Fa...

Embolic strokes of undetermined source comprise a subset of cryptogenic ischemic strokes. It is thought that some embolic strokes of undetermined source could be due to left atrial thromboembolism without atrial fibrillation. The authors sought to determine whether a marker of left atrial pathological changes could pose as a surrogate marker of nonarrhythmogenic atrial thromboembolism in emboli...

Embolic strokes of undetermined source comprise a subset of cryptogenic ischemic strokes. It is thought that some embolic strokes of undetermined source could be due to left atrial thromboembolism without atrial fibrillation. The authors sought to determine whether a marker of left atrial pathological changes could pose as a surrogate marker of nonarrhythmogenic atrial thromboembolism in emboli...