Pulmonary venous blood flow (PVF) visualized by Doppler echocardiography exhibits a pulsatile behavior, which is related to left atrial pressure and function, mitral valve function, and left ventricular compliance. In atrial fibrillation (AF), the disappearance of atrial reverse flow, a decrease in systolic flow with a greater diastolic than systolic flow, a prolonged onset of systolic flow and...

Congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AF) are two important and growing problems in medicine and cardiology. Both conditions often coexist and complicate each other's management. Two therapeutic strategies are available for patients with AF and congestive heart failure: the first aims at restoring and maintaining sinus rhythm, whereas the second focuses exclusively on optimizing ven...

PURPOSE Recent studies have demonstrated that ventricular rate control is a viable treatment strategy for patients in atrial fibrillation (AF). The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the benefits of coupled pacing (ie, a proposed rate control therapy) could be used during persistent AF. DESCRIPTION Six mongrel dogs were chronically implanted with endocardial atrial and vent...

Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is an important mediator of atrial fibrosis and atrial fibrillation (AF). But the involved genetic mechanism is unknown. Herein, the TGF-β1 C-509 T polymorphism (rs1800469) was genotyped in a case-control study of 840 patients and 845 controls in Chinese population to explore the association between the polymorphism and susceptibility and prognosis of lone...

We aimed to investigate whether or not cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) can be used as a predictor of sinus rhythm constancy in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) converted to sinus rhythm. Thirty two patients with AF (48-78 years), without any structural heart disease were enrolled for the study. The control group consisted of 32, age and gender matched healthy persons. Measurements of CT-1 were mad...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE The leaves of Crassocephalum bauchiense have long been used in traditional Cameroonian medicine for the treatment of epilepsy, pain, inflammatory disorders, arthritis and intestinal pain. AIM OF THE STUDY In this study, we attempted to identify the possible antinociceptive action of the aqueous extract and the alkaloid fraction prepared from the leaves of Crasso...

OBJECTIVE Available evidence suggests that inflammation may be associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). This prospective and observational study aimed to assess whether plasma neopterin (NPT) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels before and after electrical cardioversion (CV) predict AF recurrence. METHODS The study was designed as a prospective observational trial. Blood samples were collected (2...

BACKGROUND Isolated atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with mild enlargement of the left atrium (LA) and left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction. The impact of ablation of isolated AF on left chamber size and function is unclear, and whether diastolic dysfunction is the cause or the consequence of AF remains unknown. The objective of this prospective study was to evaluate the impact of ...

BACKGROUND Patients with acute heart failure (AHF) frequently have atrial fibrillation (AF), but how this affects patient-reported outcomes has not been well characterized. METHODS AND RESULTS We examined dyspnea improvement and clinical outcomes in 7007 patients in the Acute Study of Clinical Effectiveness of Nesiritide in Decompensated Heart Failure (ASCEND-HF) trial. At baseline, 2677 (38....

AIMS To investigate the effects of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on survival in heart failure (HF) patients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) and the role of atrio-ventricular junction (AVJ) ablation in these patients. METHODS AND RESULTS Data from 1285 consecutive patients implanted with CRT devices are presented: 1042 patients were in sinus rhythm (SR) and 243 (19%) in AF. R...