sinus rhythm after direct current conversion of patients with chronic atrial fibrillation. The patients from 15 centers in Sweden were randomized to sotalol (98 patients) or quinidine (85 patients) after 2 hours of sinus rhythm after direct current conversion. According to primary efficacy assessment, 52% of the patients in the sotalol group and 48% of the patients in the quinidine group remain...

Restoration of normal sinus rhythm is usually followed by improved hemodynamics. By contrast, pulmonary edema and cardiovascular collapse have been reported following successful electrical reversion of various tachyarrhythmias to normal sinus rhythm. The mechanism for this adverse reaction is not clear but has been thought to relate, at least in part, to electrical myocardial damage from the co...

Six newborn infants with intrauterine supraventricular tachyarrhythmias (five cases of atrial flutter and one of supraventricular tachycardia) are described. Transplacental digitalisation was attempted in three cases. Supraventricular tachycardia associated with hydrops fetalis, detected in a fetus at a gestation of 31 weeks, was successfully converted to normal sinus rhythm eight days after th...

OBJECTIVE Superior septal approach provides excellent exposure of the mitral valve and the subvalvular structures. The unavoidable section of the sinus node artery is in relationship with this technique. We have studied the electrical changes associated after using this approach. MATERIAL AND METHODS We studied 247 cases of mitral valve surgery from 1996 to 2003. The patient population was di...

Two patients who underwent left ventricular bypass transplants are described. Both patients sustained postoperative rhythm disturbances of their own hearts during sinus rhythm of the donor hearts. Illustrative examples of atrial flutter, ventricular flutter, ventricular fibrillation, blocked atrial extrasystoles, and double ventricular parasystole in the recipient hearts are presented. The pati...

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) cation channels mediate pacemaker currents in the atrium. The microRNA (miR) families miR-1 and miR-133 regulate the expression of multiple genes involved in myocardial function, including HCN channels. It was hypothesized that age‑dependent changes in HCN2, HCN4, miR‑1 and miR‑133 expression may contribute to age‑associated atrial fibri...

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation (AF) can occur even after the correction of mitral valve (MV) pathology in patients who have pre-operative sinus rhythm and undergo MV surgery. However, the factors associated with the occurrence of AF after MV surgery are still unclear. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the factors determining the occurrence of permanent AF after MV surgery i...

U NTIL recently enthusiasm for conversion of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm in patients with rheumatic heart disease has been dampened by the high rate of reversion to atrial fibrillation soon after conversion. Mitral commissurotomy, if followed by a reduction of left atrial pressure and size, offers the theoretical possibility of a reduction in this reversion rate. Successful commissuroto...

mean relapse time being 3-75 months after DC shock. A second electroversion preceded and followed by maintenance Kinidin was performed, and the mean electrical energy for conversion to sinus rhythm remained unchanged at 142joules. The dose of slow-release quinidine was controlled by frequent quinidine blood levels. A careful follow-up study was maintained for 26 months. Twelve patients have rem...