Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia encountered by clinicians. The prevalence of AF increases with age, and the elderly are the fastest growing subset of the population. It has been estimated that there will be 12 million patients with AF in the United States within the next several decades.1,2 AF may present in a wide variety of clinical conditions. The optimal man...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia that occurs in paroxysmal and persistent forms. It occurs in varied situations but lightning induced AF is extremely rare. Here is a case which reverted to sinus rhythm spontaneously. This 37-year-old man without any underlying heart disease had new onset AF after being struck by a lightning. Oral Metoprolol alone was given to control ventricular ...

A recent series of randomized prospective clinical trials that compared rate control with rhythm control in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) found no significant difference in primary outcome between the two strategies. However, these trials lacked clear criteria for defining "successful" rate or rhythm control. Various measures have been used to gauge the success of antiarrhythmic drug t...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice. Cardioversion for AF may be performed by either using direct current (DC) shock (electrical cardioversion) or using drugs (chemical cardioversion). Here we report a case of a patient with heart failure and AF, who reverted to the normal sinus rhythm on correction of hyperkalemia (electrogenic cardioversion). The patien...

BACKGROUND In patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), atrial fibrillation (AF) may predate, concur with, or develop after HFpEF diagnosis. We sought to define the temporal relationship between AF and HFpEF, to identify factors associated with AF, and to determine the prognostic impact of prevalent and incident AF in HFpEF. METHOD AND RESULTS From 1983 to 2010, 939...

BACKGROUND In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), antiarrhythmic drug therapy currently plays a greater role in maintaining sinus rhythm after cardioversion than it does in converting AF to sinus rhythm. Amiodarone is the most effective antiarrhythmic agent for maintaining sinus rhythm after cardioversion in patients with AF. However, its pharmacokinetics is complex; the drug interacts with...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and mechanistic implications of segmental pulmonary vein (PV) ostial ablation during atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS Forty consecutive patients underwent PV isolation for AF. Among 125 PVs targeted for isolation, ablation was performed during AF in 70 veins and during sinus rhythm in 55 veins. A decapolar Lass...

conclusions we can conclude that treatment of af using a right-sided minithoracotomy approach and rf energy in patients undergoing cardiac surgery for various valve diseases is feasible, safe, and reproducible. objectives our aim is to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and immediate plus medium-term results of concomitant af ablation therapy in patients undergoing minimally invasive valve surge...

OBJECTIVES We studied the influence of rate control or rhythm control in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) on quality of life (QoL). BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation may cause symptoms like fatigue and dyspnea. This can impair QoL. Treatment of AF with either rate or rhythm control may influence QoL. METHOD Quality of life was assessed in patients included in the Rate Control ...

AIMS The aim of the study was to investigate the atrial myocardial deformation properties using ultrasound strain rate (SR) imaging in patients after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) and to compare its prognostic value in maintaining sinus rhythm. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 118 patients with AF (74 paroxysmal AF, 44 persistent AF) underwent transthoracic echocardiography with...