Active clinical trials for "Atrial Fibrillation"

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice with a prevalence reaching 5% in patients older than 65 years and an incidence that increases progressively with age.1 According to the most recent guidelines, class Ic anti-arrhythmic drugs are considered the first line treatment in patients without significant structural heart disease. Flecainide is effective in preventing AF recurrences in 31-61% of cases according to different studies.2-5 A recent study showed that the combination of Flecainide and Metoprolol improves effective rhythm control in patients with persistent symptomatic AF compared to Flecainide or Metoprolol alone.6 In contrast, the combination of Flecainide and Metoprolol conferred no significant benefit over Flecainide alone in patients with paroxysmal AF. This suggests different underlying mechanisms for paroxysmal and persistent AF. Pulmonary veins are likely the main focus triggering paroxysmal AF while in persistent AF the role of pulmonary veins is less important.

This is a pilot study to assess feasibility to conduct a multi-center, randomized trial to examine the effect of aggressive risk factor control and arrhythmia trigger-based intervention on the atrial substrate, which is involved in the development and maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF).

The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of performing a randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of an anti-inflammatory drug, colchicine, at reducing well validated markers of thrombosis (D-dimer) and inflammation (hs-CRP).

To provide additional information about the safety and efficacy of the WATCHMAN LAA Closure Technology

To assess the safety and pharmacokinetics of DU-176b administered to non-valvular atrial fibrillation patients with severe renal impairment, compared with DU-176b administered to non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients with normal renal function or mild renal impairment (Normal/MiRI).

Atrial fibrillation and chronic neuropathic pain are adverse events occurring after posterolateral thoracotomy for lung resection. The continuous application of magnesium sulphate may have a prophylactic effect. The investigators record the incidence of atrial fibrillation during a seven day period after thoracotomy as well as the incidence of chronic neuropathic pain during a three months period, comparing one group with a continuous application of magnesium sulphate against one group without magnesium sulphate.

Until recently, there was no way of telling how firmly the tip of the catheter was in contact with the heart and how this contact was orientated. The electrical signals measured through the catheters, known as electrograms, are used to guide the sites and duration of ablation, but the effect of catheter contact and orientation on these signals in human heart muscle that is fibrillating is not known. New catheters have now been developed which can measure the force of contact at their tip: using these, the investigators will examine how contact force affects the electrical behaviour of heart muscle tissue in atrial fibrillation. The effect the force of contact has on the electrogram recorded will also be investigated. In so doing we hope to gain a better understanding of the relationship between tissue contact and the electrograms we measure and in so doing improve the safety and effectiveness of ablation procedures. Hypothesis: Catheter contact force and orientation have a significant impact on the characteristics of bipolar electrograms in the fibrillating human atrium.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common heart rhythm disorder that leads to one-sixth of all strokes. Prevention of strokes in AF is achieved through the use of blood thinners such as coumadin. Although these blood thinners are effective, they are limited by the risk of serious bleeding, by physician and patient reluctance to use, and by noncompliance and discontinuation. The left atrial appendage is a structure on the upper chamber of the heart that is the most common source of stroke in patients with AF. This structure is easily accessible during open heart surgery for removal, and has been an area of interest for stroke prevention. However, there is currently no strong evidence that removing it works. The LAAOS III trial will randomly (like the flip of a coin) assign patients with AF undergoing heart surgery for other reasons to have the left atrial appendage removed or not. These patients, other than this small procedure which has been shown to be quite safe, will be treated in the usual manner. The full study of 4700 patients, followed for an average of 4 years, will determine if removing the left atrial appendage can reduce stroke and other complications on top of usual therapy. A positive study will change the way heart surgery is performed on AF patients and results in a large reduction in the number of strokes in a large population. Further, it will promote further research into this approach that could be applied beyond AF patients undergoing heart surgery.

Monophasic action potential (MAP) recording plays an important role in a more direct view of human myocardial electrophysiology under both physiological and pathological conditions. The MAP method represents a very useful tool for an electrophysiological research in cardiology. Its crucial importance lies in the fact that it enables the study of the action potential (AP) of myocardial cell in vivo and, therefore, the study of the dynamic relation of this potential with all the organism variables what can be particularly helpful in the case of arrhythmias. Hundred and fifty patients will be included to explore mapping capabilities in cardiac chambers in patients suffering from regular or fibrillating tachycardia's with the following inclusion plan: i) Atrial fibrillation at a total of 50 patients ii) Ventricular fibrillation or patients at high risk of sudden cardiac death at a total of 50 patients iii) Junctional tachycardia at a total of 50 patients. We will focus on cardiac activation (depolarization and repolarization) in this population.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of n-3 PUFAs in addition to amiodarone and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors on the maintenance of sinus rhythm after electrical conversion in patients with persistent Atrial fibrillation (AF).