Emerging role of ivabradine for rate control in atrial fibrillation.

ABSTRACT: Control of ventricular rate is recommended for patients with paroxysmal, persistent, or permanent atrial fibrillation (AF). Existing rate-control options, including beta-blockers, nondihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, and digoxin, are limited by adverse hemodynamic effects and their ability to attain target heart rate (HR). Ivabradine, a novel HR-controlling agent, decreases HR through deceleration of conduction through I_f ('funny') channels, and is approved for HR reduction in heart failure patients with ejection fraction less than 35% and elevated HR, despite optimal pharmacological treatment. Because I_f channels were thought to be expressed solely in sinoatrial (SA) nodal tissue, ivabradine was not investigated in heart failure patients with concomitant AF.

SUBMITTER: Turley SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5933550 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature