Developmental and Genetic Aspects of Atrial Fibrillation

作者：Postma Alex V^*; Dekker Lukas R C; Soufan Alexandre T; Moorman Antoon F M

来源：Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2009, 19(4): 123-130.

DOI：10.1016/j.tcm.2009.07.003

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice. The abnormal rhythm is associated not only with a variety of symptoms, such as palpitations, dizziness, or shortness of breath, but also with increased risk of stroke, heart failure, and mortality. A genetic predisposition is suggested by the fact that the relative risk for the development of AF is estimated at 85% in individuals with at least one parent with a history of AE Current therapeutic strategies include control of rate or rhythm with medication and catheter ablation procedures. Especially in the pathophysiology of paroxysmal AF, ectopic electrical activity originating in the myocardial sleeves surrounding the pulmonary veins is considered causal. In these cases, ablation is applied to isolate the pulmonary venous myocardium from the remainder of the left atrial myocardium. Other recent evidence has shown that genetic and developmental defects can be involved in the development of A F In this review, it is our aim to discuss the possible underlying causes of AF from a combined genetic and cardiac developmental view.

• 出版日期2009-5