Cardiac MRI assessment of atrial fibrosis in atrial fibrillation: implications for diagnosis and therapy

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly encountered cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice, with a prevalence of 0.4–1% in the US population.w1 AF is a potent risk factor, increasing the risk of stroke fivefold and accounting for approximately 15% of all strokes in the USA.w2 AF also significantly increases the risk of mortality from heart failure.w3–7 Many therapies, including pharmacological approaches and direct current cardioversion, have been tried to treat this malignant arrhythmia, but were not found to be that effective.1 w8–w11 Catheter ablation of AF has provided better outcomes compared with other treatments, especially by applying pulmonary vein (PV) isolation in patients with paroxysmal AF.2 w12 However, other procedures modifying the substrate of AF, such as complex fractionated atrial electrogram ablation3 or posterior wall debulking,4 are required to obtain satisfying results for persistent AF patients with massive left...
Source: Heart - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Tachyarrhythmias, Atrial fibrillation, Education in Heart, Dilated cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Drugs: cardiovascular system, Echocardiography, Heart failure, Acute coronary syndromes, Clinical diagnostic tests, Epidemiology Source Type: research