Class Ic antiarrhythmic drugs are effective in the treatment of atrial fibrillation, but their mechanism of action is unknown. In previous work, we have found that flecainide causes tachycardia-dependent increases in atrial action potential duration (APD) and effective refractory period (ERP) by reducing APD accommodation to heart rate. The present study was designed to evaluate the efficacy an...

Minimally invasive atrial fibrillation surgery (MIAFS) has become a well established and increasingly used option for managing patients with stand-alone arrhythmia. Pulmonary veins (PVs) isolation continues to be the cornerstone of ablation strategies. Indeed, in most cases, atrial fibrillation (AF) is triggered in or near the PVs. Nevertheless, ectopic beats initiating AF may occasionally aris...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. Many studies have investigated the cause for the development of AF in the left ventricle dysfunction. Recently the hypothesis was proposed that atrial fibrillation is a protective physiological mechanism, based on the termination of atrial mechanical systole. This reduces the enddiastolic pressure in the left ventricle by excluding...

BACKGROUND The presence of focal fibrillation waves during atrial fibrillation (AF) can, besides ectopic activity, also be explained by asynchronous activation of the atrial endo- and epicardial layer and transmurally propagating fibrillation waves. To provide direct proof of endo-epicardial asynchrony, we performed simultaneous high-resolution mapping of the right atrial endo- and epicardial w...

atrial fibrillation (af) is a commonly encountered arrhythmia in our daily practice. every year a huge bulk of data is published about different management strategies, new antiarrhythmic drugs, anticoagulation protocols and ablation procedures in these patients. in this review article, we discuss different management strategies and new antiarrhythmic drugs as well as those commonly used. we wil...

OBJECTIVE Develop and evaluate a model of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) and severe congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS A single-chamber atrial pacemaker was implanted in pigs (20-30 kg). Burst atrial pacing at 42 Hz led to development of persistent AF. Immediately and 20 days after activation of the burst pacing protocol, animals underwent echocardiography. Heart rate, rhythm and ge...

Compared with men, women with atrial fibrillation (AF) over age 65 are at greater risk of stroke and thromboembolism. We hypothesized that women with AF taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) were at greater risk of all-cause death, ischemic stroke, systemic/pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction (MI), and major bleeding and explored this hypothesis using the large Atrial Fibrillation Foll...

In patients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implant indication, a single-chamber device is the choice because AF does not provide interesting information for the treatment. It is very unusual to find patients with permanent AF that coexist with atrial tachycardia with various degree of Atrioventricular block.

The role of pulmonary vein isolation in patients with non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) is only modest. Several studies have demonstrated the role of the left atrial appendage (LAA) in initiating and maintaining of this arrhythmia. We review in this article the incremental benefit in free-arrhythmia recurrence of LAA electrical isolation in patients undergoing procedures for persistent AF...

BACKGROUND There is limited information on the incidence of clinical signs, concurrent illness and treatment options for atrial fibrillation (AF) in New World Camelids (NWC). OBJECTIVE Describe clinical signs and outcome of AF in NWC. ANIMALS Eight New World Camelids admitted with AF. METHODS A retrospective observational study of camelids diagnosed with AF based on characteristic finding...