Quantifying Time in Atrial Fibrillation and the Need for Anticoagulation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the major cardiovascular diseases, and the number of patients with AF is predicted to increase markedly in the coming years. Despite recent advance in management of patients with AF, AF remains one of the main causes of stroke or systemic embolism. Application of simple stroke risk-stratification schemes, such as the CHA2DS2-VASc score has been introduced to identify patients who mostly benefit from oral anticoagulants (OACs) for stroke prevention. Current medical devices allow the detection of short and asymptomatic episodes of AF, termed atrial high rate episodes (AHREs), which are also associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism.
Source: Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research