M. Adam, M. Pirrami, P. Franciosa, G. Carreras, M.G. Bendini,
M. Ridarelli, G. Bagliani*, Annibale S. Montenero
Cardiology Department, S. Maria Hospital, Terni, *Cardiology Dept., Foligno Hospital, Foligno, Italy
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Atrial fibrillation is a common disorder affecting 0.5% of individuals 50
to 55 years and up to 8% of those over 70 years. Atrial fibrillation is usually related to rheumatic and coronary
heart disease, heart failure, mitral valve prolapse, hypertension, cardiomyopathies and endocrine diseases but
occurs in the absence of any other detectable cardiac abnormality in about 10% of the cases. The
electrophysiological mechanisms that initiate and maintain atrial fibrillation may be multiple and cause different
patterns of atrial fibrillation1,2. Electrophysiological mapping performed during atrial fibrillation indicates that
different patterns of atrial activation in the same patient are related to the existence of different migratory
reetrant wavelets in both atria3,4, and Gaita et al5 have recently explored the relationship that may exist
between these patterns of activation and the success of atrial fibrillation ablation. However, data concerning
the atrial fibrillation activation patterns and its mechanisms in the right atrium are still scarce and controversial.
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