I recently returned home from Milan, Italy. I was covering the 2015 European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) sessions. My favorite part of the congress, as it always is with medical meetings, was connecting with old friends, and making new friends. I had coffee, lunch or dinner with colleagues from Australia, Netherlands, France, Italy, Belgium, Frankfurt, […]
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A study published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology will change a way of thinking about the disease atrial fibrillation. And it’s about time. One word describes AF therapy in the past decade: plateau. Ten years have passed and we have no new drugs and no real breakthrough in AF ablation. […]
Hey Everyone, It’s been a few days since I returned home from Spain. The jet leg has resolved and normal sleep patterns have returned. I’ve had time to review the entire ESC program book. What follows is a review of my work and some notes on the past week in Barcelona. The first thing to […]
I’m writing this from home. The travel back was uneventful and I actually got a little caught up in the office Friday. It was a fun trip but getting back to doctoring felt good. Atrial Fibrillation ablation: The Gap-AF trial was released as the lead late-breaker at EuroPace 2013. There were many remarkable (‘they-really-did-that’ sort […]
The treatment of atrial fibrillation continues to encompass a greater percentage of my practice. Sometimes I feel less like a cardiologist and more like an afib-ologist. The persistently rapid growth of this disease in our population boggles my mind. Really folks, this is not hyperbole; this is fact. Like all things cardiac, the focus is […]
The late-morning sessions addressed the possible mechanism(s) of AF. Many ask what causes AF. The assumption holds that if we can ablate AF, we must know what causes it. This would not be true. One line of thinking holds that disorganized electrical conduction throughout the atria plays an important role–not just focal drivers and initiators […]
Dr. Frank Marchlinski moderated the first sessions: The global topic involved pulmonary vein reconnections. This is the bane of AF ablation. Our inability to broach the 80% success rates has most to do with the fact that PVs don’t stay isolated. Everyone wants to enhance the durability of PV isolation. Nassir Marrouche spoke about what […]
The number of emails that come from fellow cyclists (and endurance athletes) with heart rhythm issues amazes me. I am more convinced than ever that our “hobby” predisposes us to electrical issues like atrial fibrillation (AF)—that the science is right. Obviously, my pedaling “habit” creates an exposure bias. I hear from many of you because […]
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder–by a long shot. It affects–and often afflicts–millions. AF is the most common heart-related reason for hospital admission. In America, more than 1 in 4 individuals will have AF in their lifetime. Yet even more remarkable than the vastness of AF’s prevalence is its diversity. AF […]
True or False: Local TV “health reporting” is a reliable source of medical information? Let me tell you a story, as a hint. Just when one thinks mainstream media cannot sink much lower, we witness this fantastically misleading and sophomoric reporting, on the complex treatment options for atrial fibrillation. Their moniker says that they are “working for […]
Have you ever had a cold beer after a mountain bike ride? Oh my! But does such indulgence put one at risk for an arrhythmia? Does alcohol exacerbate an existing arrhythmia? How much, if any, alcohol is acceptable? These are questions I am asked frequently. And for those asking, they are very important questions. I […]