Our January EP Lab Digest Patient Perspective column, Stuck in the Middle: Afib Patients on Rate Control, focuses on how rate control treatment (such as beta blockers) alone impacts the quality of life of those living with atrial fibrillation. The column also explores things doctors and patients may wish to consider in determining an appropriate [...]
What Everyone with Atrial Fibrillation Should Know about Multaq (dronedarone)
As a patient, you probably see lots of hype-filled reports about various drugs. After a drug is approved, there’s an inevitable blitz of negative publicity which often scares people away from important new solutions that could help them. There has been so much news lately about Multaq (dronedarone), the drug designed to provide the benefits [...]
What Atrial Fibrillation Patients Want Doctors to Know: Bridging the Afib Communications Gap
Mellanie True Hills, founder of StopAfib.org, recently spoke at the Fourth Annual Western Atrial Fibrillation Symposium. Many of her remarks to this medical conference are summarized in an article just published in EP Lab Digest. You may wish to share it with family and friends who need to understand what it’s like to live with [...]
Congress Embarks on Efforts to Cut the Deficit — Guest Post by WomenHeart
Note: In meetings with the FDA last week, representatives from WomenHeart and StopAfib.org became aware of the risk that potential funding cuts may significantly delay the FDA’s work in reviewing and approving afib drugs and devices. Because of the potential impact on the afib community, we are publishing comments from WomenHeart as to what those [...]
Atrial Fibrosis, Not Afib Type, Linked to Atrial Fibrillation Strokes
Researchers at the Comprehensive Arrhythmia Research and Management Center (CARMA) in Utah have been studying the relationship between atrial fibrillation, atrial fibrosis, and catheter ablation outcomes for many years. Now, they’ve applied their knowledge of quantifying atrial fibrosis to stroke risk assessment and found that the amount of atrial fibrosis, not type of afib, is [...]
CHADS2 Scores May Understate Atrial Fibrillation Stroke Risk
New research from Denmark shows that CHADS2 underestimates stroke risk. In the study, atrial fibrillation patients who were at intermediate risk with the CHADS2 scoring system had more than twice the stroke rate of those defined by the enhanced CHA2DS2-VASc tool as being at intermediate risk. While CHADS2 deemed 32.3% of patients to have intermediate [...]
Full-Body Scans, Federally-Mandated Groping, and Atrial Fibrillation, Oh My!
By Mellanie True Hills I just got home from a one-week multi-city trip and have so much catching up to do. But with the furor over the new airport security screening procedures that have just gone into effect in the US, I have some thoughts that I simply must share before my head explodes. This [...]
New European Afib Guidelines Lead the Way, Incorporating Newest Atrial Fibrillation Treatments
New medical guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) incorporating the latest afib research put Europe ahead of the U.S. when it comes to standardized treatment of atrial fibrillation. Stroke prevention and symptom relief are at the heart of the new ESC guidelines, which also make it clear that the risk of stroke for [...]
African Americans Show Less Risk of Atrial Fibrillation and Women Need More Aggressive Afib Treatment — Findings from HRS
At Heart Rhythm 2010 in Denver recently, a session on demographic factors influencing atrial fibrillation management and outcomes featured the following research findings: African Americans Have Less Risk Than Caucasians of Atrial Fibrillation After Bypass Surgery Blacks Have Lower Risk of Atrial Fibrillation After Age 60 Than Whites Despite Higher Risk Factors Women with Atrial [...]
NPR interview features Dr. Nassir Marrouche and Mellanie True Hills for upcoming Atrial Fibrillation Seminar in Salt Lake City
In preparation for the upcoming free community Atrial Fibrillation Seminar in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 19, renowned electrophysiologist Dr. Nassir Marrouche, the executive director of the University of Utah’s Comprehensive Arrhythmia Research & Management (CARMA) center, and Mellanie True Hills, founder of StopAfib.org, talked with NPR about heart disease and atrial fibrillation. Find [...]
