BACKGROUND The optimal pharmacologic means to restore and maintain sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation remains controversial. METHODS In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we randomly assigned 665 patients who were receiving anticoagulants and had persistent atrial fibrillation to receive amiodarone (267 patients), sotalol (261 patients), or placebo (137 patients) and ...

Pacemaker infection has multiple risk factors. Its presentation is most often similar to infected endocarditis and the diagnosis is made through studying blood cultures. Transesophageal echocardiography can confirm the diagnosis. The most common microorganisms are staphylococcus speciesis. As a matter of fact, complete pacemaker removal appears to be the only definite treatment. We presented a ...

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global crisis, as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Complete heart block, resulting from an abnormal heart rhythm, is a rare presentation of this infection, which can be life-threatening due to possible progression into ventricular tachycardia. Case Presentation: We report a c...

OBJECTIVE We would like to share our experience of surgical repair of sinus venosus atrial septal defect (ASD) using a simple "transcaval repair technique." METHOD Between January 2007 and October 2010, 48 consecutive patients of sinus venosus ASD underwent surgical repair using transcaval repair technique at our institute. Their ages ranged from 5 to 15 years and male to female ratio was 1.6...

BACKGROUND Rhythm control for atrial fibrillation (AF) is cumbersome because of its progressive nature caused by structural remodelling. Upstream therapy refers to therapeutic interventions aiming to modify the atrial substrate, leading to prevention of AF. OBJECTIVE The Routine versus Aggressive upstream rhythm Control for prevention of Early AF in heart failure (RACE 3) study hypothesises t...

Introduction: Vernakalant is a new, safe and effective drug used intravenously. It has proven to be more rapid in converting recent onset atrial fibrillation (AF) to sinus rhythm compared to placebo, amiodarone, propafenone and flecainide in clinical studies with few patients. At present no study has been conducted comparing these three drugs with a more substantial number of patients. The aim ...

Introduction: Rheumatic mitral stenosis (RMS) increases the risk of both atrial fibrillation (AF) and thromboembolism. Methods: Patients with mitral stenosis and normal sinus rhythm were enrolled in the study prospectively.The present study was designed to study whether echocardiographic evaluation in patients with mitral stenosis and normal sinus rhythm could predict the occurrence of symptoma...

Little is known about the risk of stroke associated with left atrial enlargement in patients in sinus rhythm, and whether such patients may have an unmet need for thromboprophylaxis. In this systematic review we summarise the existing evidence concerning left atrial size and risk of stroke in patients in sinus rhythm. Nine cohort studies were identified, analysing a total of 67,875 participants...

The ECG (electrocardiography) shows a sinus bradycardia of 42 beats/min, a horizontal electrical heart axis and a narrow QRS complex. The second to fourth QRS complex is preceded by a P wave with a variation in the PQ time. The PQ time in the second QRS complex is 220 ms, in the third 200 ms and the fourth 140 ms. No P wave precedes the fifth QRS complex. In the sixth QRS complex, the P wave is...

BACKGROUND TO IMPROVE SINUS RHYTHM CONVERSION, THE COX MAZE III PROCEDURE WITH NARROW MAZES (WIDTH: ≤3.0 cm) was performed in combination with left atrial volume reduction. METHODS From October 2007 to April 2013, 87 patients with atrial fibrillation (paroxysmal in 3, persistent in 14, and permanent in 70) underwent the Cox maze procedure concomitant with another cardiac procedure. They were ...