What Can Lung Transplantation Teach Us About the Mechanisms of Atrial Arrhythmias?

Lung transplantation is an increasingly performed procedure, with 50% survival at 5 years1 and whose immediate and long-term prognosis may be complicated by atrial arrhythmias. Operatively, the procedure involves transplantation of one or both lungs with their proximal airways, together with anastomosis of the vascular pedicle (pulmonary veins and arteries) to the recipient heart. This results in surgical isolation of the donor pulmonary veins to the recipient left atrium, providing a valuable opportunity to examine incident atrial fibrillation (AF) and its mechanistic relation to the pulmonary veins.

Source: Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine - August 28, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Tina Baykaner, Albert J. Rogers, Junaid A.B. Zaman, Sanjiv M. Narayan Source Type: research