Atrial fibrillation is one of the most frequent arrhythmias diagnosed in clinical practice and it is also relatively common in dialysis patients. Atrioventricular and intraventricular conduction disturbances are less investigated in hemodialysis patients and data about their prevalence are insufficient. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of atrial fibrillation, atrioven...

BACKGROUND It is still unclear what role the sinus node may play in the genesis or perpetuation of atrial fibrillation. Therefore, we studied the electrical activity in different regions of the sinus node during atrial fibrillation. METHODS AND RESULTS In Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts, paroxysms of atrial fibrillation were induced by burst pacing. Standard microelectrode techniques were ...

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice. Its treatment is still widely debated due to the large variety of therapeutic options. Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) around pulmonary vein ostia and in the left atrium has been proposed as a technique to cure atrial fibrillation and is now performed with increasing success worldwide. However, few random...

AIMS Whether atrial fibrillation is related to risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) has not been extensively studied. Therefore, we investigated the association between atrial fibrillation and future risk of VTE in a population-based cohort. METHODS In total, 29,975 subjects were recruited from three surveys of the Tromsø study and followed from enrollment (1994-1995, 2001-2002 and 2007-2008)...

BACKGROUND Asymptomatic, or "silent" atrial fibrillation could increase the risk of stroke. Little is known about the frequency of asymptomatic atrial fibrillation in patients who also have symptomatic atrial fibrillation; similarly, little is known about the effect of antiarrhythmic drug therapy on asymptomatic atrial fibrillation. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients in sinus rhythm with a history ...

An exome‑wide association study (EWAS) was performed to identify genetic variants, particularly low‑frequency or rare coding variants with a moderate to large effect size, that confer susceptibility to atrial fibrillation in Japanese. The EWAS for atrial fibrillation was performed with 13,166 subjects (884 patients with atrial fibrillation and 12,282 controls) using an Illumina HumanExome‑12 DN...

AIMS Atrial fibrillation is a common and important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that may become more prevalent due to an ageing population and more prolonged exposure to predisposing cardiovascular disease states. This study examines recent trends in hospitalizations related to atrial fibrillation in Scotland. METHODS AND RESULTS Scotland (population 5.1 million) has a well...

A considerable number of patients over the age of 45 years who undergo a lung resection operation develop cardiac arrhythmias during the postoperative period. These arrhythmias may be multiple extrasystoles, atrial fibrillation, or atrial flutter. Multiple extrasystoles do not in themselves influence the cardiac function to any very great extent, but they are often the precursor of the more ser...

background calcium infusion is used as a pre-treatment before calcium channel blockers to prevent hypotension. occasional cardioversion with calcium gluconate infusion is seen in patients with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. several mechanisms have been suggested for mechanism. herein we report a case presenting with atrial fibrillation but cardioverted with calcium gluconate infusion,...

Atrial fibrillation and obesity are interlinked epidemics and both impair quality of life. As the prevalence of both conditions in the US continues to rise, so will the number of obese patients with atrial fibrillation referred for catheter ablation. Catheter ablation has already been shown to significantly improve quality of life in patients with atrial fibrillation. Until recently, there has ...