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(Circulation. 2002;106:14.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiology Patient Page

Atrial Fibrillation

Johan E.P. Waktare, MB, ChB, MRCP

From the Cardiology Department, University Hospital Birmingham, Edgebaston, Birmingham, UK.

Correspondence to Dr Johan E.P. Waktare, Cardiology Department, University Hospital Birmingham, Edgebaston, Birmingham, B15 2TH, UK. E-mail jwaktare@blueyonder.co.uk

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

A trial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and effects nearly 1% of the population. Its prevalence increases with increasing age; it is relatively infrequent in those under 40 years old, but occurs in up to 5% of those over 80 years of age.

Normal Heart Electrical Activity and What Goes Wrong in AF

The heart is essentially a large muscular pump that drives blood around the body. To do this effectively, the heart’s chambers must be precisely controlled electrically (Figure 1). The normal heartbeat begins with the natural pacemaker (the sinoatrial [SA] node) in the top right heart chamber (the right atrium). Activity spreads across the atria, causing them to contract. The contraction of the atria propels extra blood into the ventricles, which are the main pumping chambers. The electrical signal is delayed by about one tenth of a second by a special structure called the atrioventricular (AV) node, and then spreads rapidly across the ventricles to make them contract. Extra filling of the ventricles by the atria is not vital, but does serve to "prime the ventricular pump" and improve overall heart function.

View larger version (17K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. The atria contain the heart’s natural pacemaker, the SA node, and are the part of the heart affected by atrial fibrillation. The ventricles are the muscular part of the heart that actually pump the blood. They are electrically isolated from the atria, and the only way the electrical signal can reach them is via the AV node.

Normal heart rhythm is termed sinus rhythm. Most people have a resting . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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