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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban Uncategorized

Female gender and stroke risk in atrial fibrillation: Know your CHA2DS2-VASc Score

When it comes to the risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation, it pays to be a boy. Sorry, ladies. An important question came up on my recent post on AF and stroke. Why does being female give you an automatic point on CHADS2-VASc?  I keep seeing it, but I don’t see why that is. It […]

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AF ablation Doctoring

Gender differences in the treatment of Atrial Fib

I was recently asked a seemingly simple question about differences in how women with atrial fibrillation (AF) are treated. The questioner was referring to this large AF-ablation study published a year ago in the Heart Rhythm Journal. Researchers at St David’s Hospital in Austin, TX reported striking differences in the outcomes and complications of more […]

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Doctoring Health Care ICD/Pacemaker

Prophylactic ICDs may not benefit women…

The heart of a woman may be much different than that of a man. The “Go Red” campaign would surely agree.  As would most masters of the obvious. But in the case of whether female hearts garner the same benefit from a prophylactic implantable defibrillator (ICD), women may be much different than men. As published […]

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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation General Ablation

Atrial fibrillation ablation in women…Are there any real differences?

We all know that women have kinder hearts than do men. That’s an easy one. But what about their cardiac electrical system? The headline in the subject line of the email reads, AFib Ablation in Women: Are We Undertreating? I looked at this study a number of days ago, and initially thought–except for the number […]