OBJECTIVE The impact of pre-existing atrial fibrillation on the long-term outcome in patients after off-pump coronary revascularisation is not well known. This study aims to determine the independent effects of preoperative atrial fibrillation on the early and late outcomes of off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. METHODS A total of 513 patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass s...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia and an important source for mortality and morbidity on a population level. Despite the clear association between AF and death, stroke, and other cardiovascular events, there is no evidence that rhythm control treatment improves outcome in AF patients. The poor outcome of rhythm control relates to the severity of the atrial substra...

The antiarrhythmic effects of potassium canrenoate were examined in 20 closedchest, pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs with ouabain-induced ventricular tachycardia. In a group of 8 dogs, a mean dose of ouabain of 64.4 ± 3.7 /ig/kg induced sustained ventricular tachycardia. Subsequent administration of potassium canrenoate (30 mg/kg, iv) caused ventricular fibrillation in 1 dog and sinus tachycardi...

BACKGROUND To investigate the outcome of patients in atrial fibrillation (AF) following mitral valve repair, clinical and echocardiographic follow-up was undertaken in 400 consecutive patients who underwent mitral valvuloplasty from 1987 to 1999. METHODS AND RESULTS The main indications for surgery were degenerative (81.4%), endocarditis (7.1%), rheumatic (6.6%), ischemic (4.6%), and traumati...

Guidelines recommend a trial of one or more antiarrhythmic drugs before catheter ablation is considered in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, first-line may be effective maintaining sinus rhythm.

AIMS To examine whether the presence, or development, of atrial fibrillation in patients with advanced chronic heart failure, is associated with a poorer prognosis, compared to patients with sinus rhythm and chronic heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS We examined 409 patients with moderate to severe chronic heart failure, and compared patients with sinus rhythm (n=325) to those with atrial fib...

H yperkalemia has several electrophysiologic effects on cardiac tissues that allow for its ready detection on a standard electrocardiogram. The diagnosis is easiest when the baseline tracing is normal with sinus rhythm and a normal QRS duration. We report this case of hyperkalemia which was diagnosed in the presence of ventricular pacing and atrial fibrillation and which resulted in the convers...

OBJECTIVES This study examined the effect of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on left atrial (LA) and left atrial appendage (LAA) function in humans with chronic atrial flutter (AFL). BACKGROUND Atrial stunning and the development of spontaneous echocardiographic contrast (SEC) is a consequence of electrical cardioversion of AFL to sinus rhythm. This phenomenon has been termed "stunning" and is ...

BACKGROUND Diastolic heart failure often coexists with atrial fibrillation (AF). Elevated plasma levels of natriuretic peptides are the left ventricular (LV) marker of diastolic dysfunction. AIM To evaluate the influence of sinus rhythm restoration on ANP and BNP levels in patients with normal and impaired LV diastolic function. METHODS The study included 42 patients (19 men, 23 women), age...

Atrial fibrillation (AF), at the very least, is a fruitful subject for both the clinician and basic scientist. Since 1965, PubMed has listed 6,329 publications with “atrial fibrillation” in the title, with 1,235 such articles between January 2001 and December 2002. In light of the Atrial Fibrillation Follow-up Investigation of Rhythm Management (AFFIRM) parent study (1), which showed that in pa...