Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Surgery

Paper Summary:

The paper provides the history of medical attitudes regarding atrial fibrillation and discusses the mechanisms that trigger it. The paper looks at several risk factors that have been identified for atrial fibrillation and the monitoring procedures of patients after heart surgery. The paper explores the development of better preventative measures and concludes that although atrial fibrillation was historically treated as a secondary condition of little importance, recent studies confirm that it is a major cause of morbidity and the source of increased costs.

Outline:
History of Atrial Fibrillation
Mechanism
Risk Factors
Monitoring
Best Practices
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Historically, atrial fibrillation was regarded as a minor and unimportant condition by the medical community (Lip and Beevers, 1995). As the incidence of morbidity and mortality increase, it is beginning to receive more attention. However, due to the prevailing attitude of its insignificance, there is little information available about its history and early monitoring techniques. It was not treated as a significant reason for monitoring, unless it accompanied a more serious condition. Only recently has the medical community recognized atrial fibrillation as a reason for monitoring in and of itself. Atrial fibrillation often presents few symptoms of note. Therefore, it is often not the primary presenting complaint. Atrial fibrillation is often discovered as the result of complaints associated with another condition (Lip and Beevers, 1995)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Allessie MA, Wijffels MC, Dorland R. Mechanisms of pharmacologic cardioversion of atrial fibrillation by Class I drugs. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 1998;9(suppl):S69-77.
• Akdemir R, Ozhan H, Gunduz H, et al.2005. Effect of reperfusion on P-wave duration and P-wave dispersion in acute myocardial infarction: primary angioplasty versus thrombolytic therapy. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol. 2005;10:35-40.
• Benjamin E., et al. 1994. Risk Factors For Atrial Fibrillation. The Framingham Heart Study. JAMA Mar 16, 1994. 271 840-844.
• Budeus M, Hennersdorf M, Dierkes S, et al. 2003. Effects of right coronary artery PTCA on variables of P-wave signal averaged electrocardiogram. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol. 2003;8:150-156.
• Centurion, O., Isomoto S, Fukatani M, et al. 2002. Relationship between atrial conduction defects and fractioned atrial endocardial electrocardiograms in patients with sick sinus syndrome. PACE. 2002;16:2022-2023.

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