BACKGROUND The relationship between autonomic activation and the mechanisms of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation remains unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS We implanted a pacemaker and a radio transmitter in 7 dogs (group 1). After baseline recording, we paced the left atrium at 20 Hz for 1 week and then monitored left stellate ganglion nerve activity, left vagal nerve activity, and left atrial electr...

OBJECTIVES This study was performed to determine the incidence of symptomatic, sustained atrial fibrillation in a group of patients with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. The effects of the mechanism of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (atrioventricular [AV] node reentry vs. AV reentry through an accessory pathway) and heart rate during the tachycardia on the occurrence of atrial ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum soluble semaphorin 4D (sSema4D) in patients with atrial fibrillation and to investigate the relationship of serum sSema4D with left atrial diameter (LAD). MATERIAL AND METHODS We studied a total of 113 patients who were subdivided into paroxysmal and non-paroxysmal (included persistent and permanent) atrial fibrillation groups, respec...

OBJECTIVE To assess long term mortality and identify factors associated with the development of permanent atrial fibrillation after atrioventricular (AV) node ablation for drug refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING UK tertiary centre teaching hospital. PATIENTS Patients admitted to the University Hospital Birmingham between January 1995 and ...

Background. The goal of the report was to study the long-term incidence and the independent predictors for chronic atrial fibrillation and stroke in 507 paced patients with sick sinus syndrome, adjusting for differences in baseline clinical variables with multivariate analysis. Methods and Results. From 1980 to 1989, we implanted 376 dual-chamber, 19 atrial, and 112 ventricular pacemakers to tr...

BACKGROUND The goal of the report was to study the long-term incidence and the independent predictors for chronic atrial fibrillation and stroke in 507 paced patients with sick sinus syndrome, adjusting for differences in baseline clinical variables with multivariate analysis. METHODS AND RESULTS From 1980 to 1989, we implanted 376 dual-chamber, 19 atrial, and 112 ventricular pacemakers to tr...

Background. The goal of the report was to study the long-term incidence and the independent predictors for chronic atrial fibrillation and stroke in 507 paced patients with sick sinus syndrome, adjusting for differences in baseline clinical variables with multivariate analysis. Methods and Results. From 1980 to 1989, we implanted 376 dual-chamber, 19 atrial, and 112 ventricular pacemakers to tr...

BACKGROUND Prolonged and fractionated right atrial endocardial electrograms are characteristic of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (idiopathic or associated with sick sinus syndrome). The distribution of these abnormal atrial electrograms within the right atrium and the way it is related to the likelihood that patients with sick sinus syndrome will develop paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was studi...

Objective: To assess long term mortality and identify factors associated with the development of permanent atrial fibrillation after atrioventricular (AV) node ablation for drug refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: UK tertiary centre teaching hospital. Patients: Patients admitted to the University Hospital Birmingham between January 1995 and De...

BACKGROUND Detection of atrial fibrillation after ischemic stroke is challenging due to its paroxysmal nature. We aimed to assess predictors of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation using non-invasive surface ECG and transthoracic echocardiography to select candidates for atrial fibrillation screening. METHODS Ischemic stroke patients without documented atrial fibrillation (n = 110, 67 ± 10 years, 4...