ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an arrhythmia that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. AF is the most common sustained arrhythmia in adults. Currently, more than 6 million Europeans have AF. Despite recent progress in understanding the pathophysiology of this arrhythmia, treatment of AF patients is still far from satisfactory with success rate as low as 30-60 %. 

 

Recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying AF have further underscored the complex pathophysiological basis of the arrhythmia. It has become apparent that the current clinical classification of AF does not reflect the severity of the underlying atrial disease. Atrial complexity parameters derived from ECG may be used to identify the mechanisms underlying AF and may be correlated to the success rate of rhythm control therapies.

Classifying AF can be done via non-invasive ECG. Esophageal electrocardiography provides excellent atrial signal quality due to the vicinity of the electrode to the left atrium. Body surface potential mapping (BSPM) involves the use of multiple electrodes to collect the potentials over a large body surface area.