BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation is the most common complication after myocardial revascularization, and it increases morbidity/mortality. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this prospective randomized study was to test the hypothesis that temporary biatrial pacing is effective in reducing the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation after myocardial revascularization. METHODS Ninety-eight non-co...

Nine hundred and sixty-nine coronary care patients with acute myocardial infarction were followed for one year. Atrial fibrillation was documented in 107 patients. Compared with patients without atrial fibrillation, those with this arrhythmia were older, had clinically more severe infarction, and had a higher frequency of ventricular fibrillation or tachycardia, and right bundle-branch block. T...

OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical characteristics of patients with atrial fibrillation in the primary care setting. METHODS This was a 2-phase, cross-sectional, multicenter study: phase A assessed the proportion of atrial fibrillation patients assisted in primary care over 5 days; phase B analyzed atrial fibrillation patients' clinical characteristics and management. RESULTS In phase A, 119 ...

T here has been a long-standing consensus1 that the risk of embolization in patients with atrial fibrillation and rheumatic heart disease, in particular, mitral stenosis, is sufficiently high to justify anticoagulant prophylaxis. However, there has been no consensus in regard to nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation. The recognition that nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation is common and associated with...

OBJECTIVE We sought to determine whether in the absence of clinical stroke, people with atrial fibrillation experience faster cognitive decline than people without atrial fibrillation. METHODS We conducted a longitudinal analysis in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community-based study of 5,888 men and women aged 65 years and older, enrolled in 1989/1990 or 1992/1993. Participants did not ...

A 39-year-old Caucasian female with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and with history of syncope and other high-risk features for sudden cardiac death underwent implantation of St Jude Photon DR dual chamber cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Two years later she was found to be in atrial fibrillation and anticoagulated with warfarin. Three years after the ICD was implanted, it delivered a...

The incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation in cardiac surgery is still high despite major advances in anesthetic, pharmacological and surgical techniques. Its precise mechanism is still totally unknown. Postoperative atrial fibrillation increases length of stay as well as hospital costs. Rate of postoperative atrial fibrillation spontaneous conversion is high. Several protocols have bee...

Atrial fibrillation, a chronic and highly morbid cardiovascular condition which affects over 33 million people worldwide, can be broadly categorized as valvular vs non-valvular in etiology. However, definitions of valvular atrial fibrillation have varied widely in the literature, and there is no clear consensus definition to date. Historically, patients with atrial fibrillation in the setting o...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) increases risk of stroke and mortality. The reported prevalence AF HCM ranges from 18% to 28%, which is higher than the general population; even after accounting for traditional factors including obesity, hypertension, age. Several increase left atrial size presence ventricular obstruction. However, there paucity data c...