Over the past 5 years, the electrophysiology community has been focused on the development of catheter ablation techniques and ablation systems to cure atrial fibrillation. This endeavour has been fuelled by a number of factors including: (1) the clinical importance of atrial fibrillation because of its high prevalence in the general population, associated symptoms, stroke risk, and increased m...

BACKGROUND New-onset atrial fibrillation in patients hospitalized for an acute myocardial infarction often leads to hemodynamic deterioration and has serious adverse prognostic implications; mortality is particularly high in patients with congestive heart failure and/or a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. The mechanism of atrial fibrillation in the context of an acute myocardial infar...

A37-year-old man with frequent episodes of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation refractory to antiarrhythmic therapy (and no other documented arrhythmias on multiple Holter examinations) underwent an attempt at radiofrequency ablation of the atrial fibrillation. Catheter positions are shown in the left anterior oblique view in Figure 1 and include 2 catheters in the left and right upper pulmonary vei...

Exogenous administration of adenosine induces atrial fibrillation in up to 7.0% of patients. Animal studies affirm endogenous adenosine released in response to tissue hypoxia may play a mechanistic role in arrhythmias associated with myocardial ischaemia or hypoxia. Therefore, atrial fibrillation occurring early after the acute phase of myocardial infarction involving atrial tissue may be secon...

BACKGROUND Persistent atrial fibrillation has been indicated to be related with microRNA-28b. However, the exact role of microRNA-28b in persistent atrial fibrillation needs to be further elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed to establish a rat model of persistent atrial fibrillation to investigate the level of microRNA-28b in atrial myocytes and to explore the molecular mechanism involved. M...

Ninety patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery were studied prospectively by bedside and subsequent ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring to investigate the incidence, possible causes, and prevention of atrial fibrillation. Patients with good left ventricular function were divided randomly into a control group or groups treated with digoxin or propranolol. In the control group the inci...

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...

The relation between left atrial size and atrial fibrillation was examined in 37 patients who had left ventriculomyotomy and myectomy at the National Heart and Lung Institute. Atrial fibrillation was present in 11 of 27 (41%) patients with an echocardiographically measured left atrial dimension greater than 45 mm. No patient with a left atrial dimension less than 45 mm had atrial fibrillation p...

BACKGROUND The long-term natural history of lone atrial fibrillation is unknown. Our objective was to determine the rate and predictors of progression from paroxysmal to permanent atrial fibrillation over 30 years and the long-term risk of heart failure, thromboembolism, and death compared with a control population. METHODS AND RESULTS A previously characterized Olmsted County, Minnesota, pop...

The objective here is to determine the incidence of atrial fibrillation after video-assisted thoracoscopic Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy (VATE) and determine whether VATE reduces incidence of atrial fibrillation compared with open Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy (OE). We conducted a retrospective study to identify patients undergoing IvorLewis esophagectomy who were in sinus rhythm preoperatively and recei...