14th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 2000

Jan. 29 - Feb. 5, 2000
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

S-13

Atrial remodeling. How to prevent it

Michael R. Rosen.
College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University, Department of Pharmacology and Pediatrics, New York, USA.

With the phrase “Atrial fibrillation begets atrial fibrillation” Allessie and associates¹ capture an important aspect of the pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation; that is, remodeling of the atrium occurs such that future bouts of fibrillation occur ever more readily. As demonstrated by these investigators a major determinant of fibrillation in their pacing-induced model is electrophysiologic remodeling. Although not incorporated in the initial descriptions provided by Allessie et al, it was clear through the concurrent work of Morillo et al² that there is an important structural component to the begetting of fibrillation, as well. Hence, I shall explore the prevention of atrial remodeling in terms of the structural and electrophysiologic components that contribute to it.

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