Free Republic

A person's fitness levels could provide greater insight into the progression of atrial fibrillation, according to a new study by researchers. About 100 patients with atrial fibrillation underwent cycle fitness tests followed by invasive and non-invasive testing to assess cardiac structure and function. "Our findings suggest that people with atrial fibrillation who are less fit demonstrate significant functional and electrical changes in the heart linked to disease," said Dr. Jonathan Ariyaratnam. "This indicates that cardiorespiratory fitness is another important independent risk factor for the development and progression of atrial fibrillation." The study found participants with reduced fitness had increased left...

New atrial fibrillation drugs possess significant advantages over warfarin for reducing the risk of embolic events such as a stroke or peripheral embolism. Patients with AFib have an especially high risk of blood clots that can lead to stroke. Warfarin (Coumadin) has been the gold standard for stroke prevention in patients with AFib for the past 50 years. But to be effective, warfarin requires careful monitoring. Within the last several years, the FDA has approved several new anticoagulants as alternatives to warfarin: dabigatran (Pradaxa), a direct thrombin inhibitor; rivaroxaban (Xarelto), a factor Xa inhibitor; and apixaban (Eliquis), also a factor...

'It seems that we may also have to think of atrial fibrillation as an atrial cardiomyopathy -- that is, a challenged heart -- rather than as a purely electrical disorder', she says. Defects in muscle fibres and mitochondria Contrary to expectations, the researchers did not find any disturbances in the ion channels that spread electrical signals between the heart's muscle cells. Instead, they found defects in the structure of the heart muscle itself and in the mitochondria that normally function as the cell's power plant. The defects already occurred in the foetal stage of the fish and deteriorated exponentially with...