Atrial fibrillation

06 Mar 2023

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a hotly debated topic relevant to the care of many of our patients in general cardiology practice. Many new subjects of controversy have emerged lately:

The EAST study has demonstrated that a strategy designed to maintain sinus rhythm, early in the course of the disease, results in a decrease in mortality and morbidity.
Large, randomised trials have shown that early AF ablation is more effective than antiarrhythmic drugs in maintenance of sinus rhythm.
Stroke prevention is a highly relevant part in the management of AF patients. The role of appendage closure is increasing, and still controversial.
The AF diagnosis "epidemic", secondary to patients' wearable digital devices, is going to be at the centre of discussions.
Screening for AF in specific populations is hotly debated.
Control of AF risk factors and treatment of underlying diseases such as obesity hypertension, sleep apnea, excessive endurance training, etc. is a key part of AF management.

The content below will help you gain a better understanding and expand your knowledge of atrial fibrillation. Explore and learn more about this topic now.

Guidelines

Resource type	Title	Access
Educational programme	Electrophysiology - Natural history of AF and guidelines on invasive treatment	Access on ESC eLearning
Publication	2020 Guidelines for Management of Atrial Fibrillation	Read the article
Presentation ESC Congress 2020	2020 Guidelines for Management of Atrial Fibrillation	Watch on ESC 365
ESC TV	ESC TV short guidelines presentation	Watch
Publication	2020 Guidelines for Management of Atrial Fibrillation- ACNAP ESC Guidelines implementation for nurses and allied professionals	Download the article

General overview

Resource type	Title	Access
Seminar	EHRA Interventional Electrophysiology and Examination Preparatory Course	Discover
Book	Atrial fibrillation - Chapter 41	Read the chapter
Book	Heart and the Brain- Secondary stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation	Read the chapter
Book	Heart and the Brain- Atrial fibrillation and dementia	Read the chapter

Interaction with the patients

Resource type	Title	Access
Webinar	How to improve patient compliance necessitating oral anticoagulation due to nonvalvular atrial fibrillation	Watch on ESC 365
ESC Congress 2022	Patient education and integrated care in atrial fibrillation.	Watch on ESC 365
ESC Congress 2022	The importance of integrated care for atrial fibrillation.	Watch on ESC 365
ESC Congress 2022	Understanding the essential components for integrated care programmes and what works for whom in what context?	Watch on ESC 365
ESC Congress 2022	Patient education and integrated care in atrial fibrillation – discussion.	Watch on ESC 365
Website for patients	Afibmatters.org	Visit

Interface with the specialist

Resource type	Title	Access
Webinar	Current role of cardiovascular pharmacotherapy for arrhythmia management	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Cognition and atrial fibrillation: a neglected association?	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Insights from the new EHRA Practical Guide to NOAC Use in Atrial Fibrillation	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Great Debate: device-detected subclinical AF should be treated like clinical AF. All patients with HF and AF should undergo AF ablation	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	When to consider AF ablation: outcome and survival in specific cohorts	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Extremes of body weight, multimorbidity, frailty and polypharmacy when considering anticoagulation for AF.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Anticoagulation for AF: considering past bleeding and other risks.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Putting it all together: challenging clinical scenarios in anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	State-of-the-art lecture in Toward better risk stratification for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Atrial arrhythmias and anticoagulation: challenging clinical scenarios	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Great Debate: anticoagulation for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation – the grey zone	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Meet the Experts: how to approach the combination of hypertension and atrial fibrillation	Watch on ESC 365
Seminar	ESC Heart & Stroke 2022	Watch on ESC 365

Management

Resource type	Title	Access
Webinar	Integrated care for patients with atrial fibrillation: what the ESC Guidelines recommend and how to incorporate into clinical practice	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	EHRA position paper on management of arrhythmias in elderly and frailty syndrome	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	How to manage elderly patients with atrial fibrillation and multiple comorbidities	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Management of atrial fibrillation patients undergoing PCI: where are we now?	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	A holistic approach in atrial fibrillation patient care and stroke prevention	Watch on ESC 365
Seminar	Cardiac Arrhythmia Management In Women	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Heart failure and AF: when to ablate?	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Acute coronary syndrome and atrial fibrillation	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Management of atrial fibrillation patients undergoing PCI: where are we now?	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Atrial fibrillation and heart failure: epidemiology, risk factors and prevention.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Rate control first for most atrial fibrillation patients: beta-blocker and/or digitalis?	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	How good is pulmonary vein isolation in atrial fibrillation with heart failure?	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Atrioventricular node ablation and CRT is the future.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	The management challenge of atrial fibrillation in HFrEF and HFpEF – discussion.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Atrial fibrillation in heart failure: pharmacological or ablation therapy?	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Medical treatment in AF: patient selection – drug selection, anticoagulants and more.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Left atrial appendage occlusion for stroke prevention: which patient and when?	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Periprocedural Anticoagulation Management for Severe Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis and Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Coronary Angiography.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Guidelines in Practice: antithrombotic therapy in atrial fibrillation and acute myocardial infarction	Watch on ESC 365
Book	Personalised medicine - Personalised management of atrial fibrillation (Chapter 57.4)	Read the chapter

Essentials

Resource type	Title	Access
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	The AF patient with a stroke: how to reduce the risk of recurrence.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Atrial fibrillation ablation: novel indications.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2021	Structured characterisation of atrial fibrillation: How-To?	Watch on ESC 365

Assessment

Resource type	Title	Access
Webinar	Assessing comorbidities in atrial fibrillation patients as ‘atrial fibrillation never comes alone’	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Atrial fibrillation screening: how and for whom?	Watch on ESC 365
Seminar	Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy in Women 2022	Watch on ESC 365

Evidence

Resource type	Title	Access
Podcast ESC Cardio Talk	Pace and ablate better than drugs in patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation: lessons from the APAF-CRT mortality trial	Listen
Podcast ESC Cardio Talk	Decoding stroke risk scores in atrial fibrillation and CKD: still more work to do	Listen
Podcast ESC Cardio Talk	Alcohol consumption, cardiac biomarkers, and risk of atrial fibrillation and adverse outcomes	Listen

Continuing professional development

Resource type	Title	Access
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Atrial fibrillation - Get ready for the session	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	May oral anticoagulation be considered for secondary prevention after coronary artery bypass operation complicated with postoperative atrial fibrillation in a high-risk patient?	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	An uncommon cause of atrial fibrillation in a 58 years male.	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	Perforation of PentaRay multipolar electroanatomic mapping catheter in the left atrial appendage during left atrial mapping.	Watch on ESC 365

Novel concepts

Resource type	Title	Access
Webinar	Arrhythmia burden in atrial fibrillation	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Digital devices for atrial fibrillation screening and future perspectives	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	New tools and technologies to improve outcome of AF ablation	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	The acceleration in digital healthcare: challenges and barriers	Watch on ESC 365
Presentation ESC Congress 2022	New strategies to manage AF	Watch on ESC 365
Webinar	Rise of the machines: the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in arrhythmia diagnosis and management	Watch on ESC 365

ESC Education Committee contributors to this Topic of the Month

Ronen Beeri Lluis Mont Gabriel Laurent Till Althoff

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The content of this article reflects the personal opinion of the author/s and is not necessarily the official position of the European Society of Cardiology.

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