In the past week I’ve been approached by several folks in their eighties who are interested in catheter ablation or surgery for atrial fibrillation. But eighty is often considered the upper limit for these procedures due to concerns about the health of the patient.

Perhaps not any more as a new study out of Canada found high success rates among those in their eighties who had open-heart surgery.

Read: Are Patients Over Eighty Candidates for Atrial Fibrillation Procedures?

Do you have thoughts or comments about this? Please add them here.

Tags: Catheter ablation, Cure, Surgery, Treatment by Mellanie
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World Stroke Day is being observed on October 29^th and focuses on preventing the silent strokes that occur five times as often as conventional strokes.

Read: October 29 is World Stroke Day

If you have atrial fibrillation, please re-examine your stroke risk, or arrange to review it with your doctor, as things may have changed. You may now be more at risk for stroke, which could change whether or not you need to be on Coumadin (warfarin).

Tags: Advocacy, Events, Risk, Treatment by Mellanie
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Are you on bisphosphonates, such as Fosamax, Boniva, Actonel, or Reclast, to prevent osteoporosis, or are you considering them? If you have atrial fibrillation, or could be at risk for it, this new study will be of interest to you.

While this study found absolute risk of atrial fibrillation to be low, bisphosphonates may lead to serious atrial fibrillation, that requiring hospitalization or causing death.

Read: Osteoporosis Medications May Increase Rate of Atrial Fibrillation

What are your thoughts and experiences on this? Please add your comments here.

Tags: Causes or Triggers, Prevention, Risk, Women by Mellanie
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Recently there have been a number of new beta blocker and heart rate studies, some of which are contradictory. The findings from some of these recent studies may apply to those with atrial fibrillation:

• Heart rates over 70 beats per minute predict heart attack risk
• Slowing the heart rate doesn’t protect those with hypertension—or does it?
• The impact of beta blockers on non-cardiac surgery risks

Read about these studies at: Heart Rate and Beta Blocker Studies That May Impact Those with Atrial Fibrillation

Tags: High blood pressure, Risk, Treatment by Mellanie
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USA Weekend HealthSmart edition features a story about Mellanie True Hills, founder of StopAfib.org, in which she talks about living with atrial fibrillation and communicating electronically with her surgeon before and after her mini-maze surgery.

Read:  USA Weekend Talks About Atrial Fibrillation and Mini-Maze Surgery…

What are your thoughts on the role that electronic communications should play in your communications with your doctors? Please share your comments here at the Atrial Fibrillation Blog.

Tags: Cure, General, Mellanie True Hills, Patient Stories, Surgery, Treatment by Mellanie
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A study in the October 15 issue of JAMA indicates that reducing how often a patient receives amiodarone for atrial fibrillation does not decrease side effects, but does increase atrial fibrillation recurrence and the risk of death and hospitalizations.

Read: Continuous use of amiodarone for atrial fibrillation better than episodic use

Tags: Treatment by Mellanie
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October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month and StopAfib.org is helping to raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

Read about October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month

Tags: Advocacy by Mellanie
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Mellanie True Hills and StopAfib.org were included in the latest issue of More magazine in Retirement for the Restless by Lisa Belkin of the NYTimes.

Read the story…

Tags: Mellanie True Hills, Patient Stories by Mellanie
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A new study has shed light on gender bias in diagnosing heart disease, which may apply to diagnosis of atrial fibrillation in women as well.

Read: Why Atrial Fibrillation May Be Missed More in Women

After reading the article, please come back here to the Atrial Fibrillation Blog to add your comments and experiences.

Tags: Causes or Triggers, Stress, Symptoms, Women by Mellanie
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StopAfib.org and Mellanie True Hills’ story of living with atrial fibrillation were featured in the September 2008 issue of EP Lab Digest. The article has a sidebar offering a patient perspective for doctors and staff, including five statements that afib patients wish their doctors wouldn’t make.

Read EP Lab Digest Features Patient Perspectives on Living with Atrial Fibrillation

Tags: General, Women by Mellanie
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