Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia), affecting more that 2 million Americans. AF causes an irregular heart beat and leads to a range of symptoms, including a rapid heartbeat, palpitations or even difficulty breathing. For many sufferers these symptoms come and go without warning, and in severe cases lead to hospitalization.
Why Do I need to worry about AF?
Beyond the symptoms simply being annoying, AF increases the risk of stroke 5-times over those who do not have AF. The risk of death is also nearly doubled in people with AF. These risks are present even when AF sufferers do not experience any symptoms, which occurs in a large number of people.
How do I know if I have AF?
Until recently, the only way in which doctors discovered AF was when a patient presented with symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, palpitations or stroke. These symptoms were then evaluated with electrocardiograms (“EKGs”), short-term (24-48 hour), bulky holter monitors to wear at home or overnight stays in the hospital. Thanks to recent advances in medical technology clinicians can now monitor heart rhythms continuously at home for weeks at a time using small, non-invasive patches.
What Can I Do about AF?
Treatment of AF is divided into therapies that can reduce the risk of dangerous complications (such as stroke) and those that control symptoms. Reducing the risk of stroke is accomplished with anticoagulants (“blood thinners”) such as warfarin, apixaban, rivaroxaban, and others. Symptoms can be controlled with medications, invasive catheter-based procedures (“ablations”) or in extreme cases implantable devices such as pacemakers.
What are the benefits and risks of different treatments?
Since strokes are the most devastating consequence of AF, anticoagulation is recommended for nearly all AF patients. Each treatment has risks, benefits, and costs that ought to be discussed with your doctor.
Regarding therapies that are meant to control symptoms, most current drugs can reduce symptoms, but only with an increased risk of sudden death or other serious long-term side effects. Invasive catheter procedures can be effective, but require hospitalization in most cases. These procedures also entail inherent risks associated with burning (“ablating”) living heart tissue. Finally, implanting permanent devices such as pacemakers to control symptoms is only done when the risks of an artificial electrical device are outweighed by the severity of a patients’ symptoms.
Are new treatments for AF being developed?
One of the more exciting developments is a new generation of medications for AF that aim to control symptoms without the risk of sudden death or other serious long term side effects. Together with modern non-invasive monitoring technology, we are able to see if this new generation of drugs work in a matter of weeks, instead of the years that were needed for clinical trials of the past.
Learn More About AF Clinical Trials
At Chase Medical Research, we are now enrolling a new clinical trial for AF. We are investigating a very exciting and innovative therapy using a new non-invasive monitoring technology that may have a profound effect on AF care in the future. Study related medication and treatments are provided at no-cost, and study participants are often compensated for time and travel. In addition, participation in this trial will give you the opportunity to have a more complete assessment of your heart rhythm than you probably have ever had before. If you're interested in seeing if you qualify for our AF clinical trial, click the button below.
