Diagnosis and Therapy of Atrial Fibrillation: The Past, The Present and The Future.

ABSTRACT: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common age-related cardiac arrhythmia. It is a progressive disease, which makes treatment difficult. The progression of AF is caused by the accumulation of damage in cardiomyocytes which makes the atria more vulnerable for AF. Especially structural remodeling and electrical remodeling, together called electropathology are sustainable in the atria and impair functional recovery to sinus rhythm after cardioversion. The exact electropathological mechanisms underlying persistence of AF are at present unknown. High resolution wavemapping studies in patients with different types of AF showed that longitudinal dissociation in conduction and epicardial breakthrough were the key elements of the substrate of longstanding persistent AF. A double layer of electrica

SUBMITTER: van Marion DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5135163 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug-Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature