A new guide to the mechanisms and principles behind the world""s most common abnormal heart rhythm

Affecting 30 million or more people across the globe, atrial fibrillation is one of the most prevalent - and yet misapprehended - issues facing modern cardiology. Its potential causes and optimal treatment strategies are matters of some conjecture in the medical community, where ongoing research has yielded findings that can prove challenging to those not familiar with the complex physiology at the root of the condition. Recognizing these concerns, distinguished electrophysiologist Peter Spector has designed Understanding Atrial Fibrillation as a means by which to equip clinicians with the data and analytic tools needed to develop a better grasp of this arrhythmia""s full nature.

The book begins by providing a detailed explanation of atrial fibrillation""s causal mechanisms and builds its exploration from there. Working toward an up-to-date knowledge of the mapping and ablation of atrial fibrillation, its chapters assess the experimental data that has shaped current thoughts on the condition and then outline the best methods with which to interpret that rich but potentially difficult information. This revelatory new guide:

- Explores hypotheses of multiple drivers and mechanisms co-existing in individual patients
- Addresses common misperceptions and inaccurate views about atrial fibrillation
- Describes the basic physiology of atrial fibrillation""s propagation and reentry
- Explores the various mechanisms and higher-order dynamics of fibrillation
- Discusses how to intervene and alter atrial physiology to prevent fibrillation

Understanding Atrial Fibrillation is truly an invaluable resource for physicians, fellows, residents, electrophysiology lab staff, and all other practitioners involved in the diagnosis and treatment of atrial fibrillation.

CONTENTS:
Part I: Building blocks of fibrillation
Excitation and propagation
Source-sink relationships
What determines source-sink balance?
Propagation and reentry
Requirements for reentry
What makes a circuit?
Source-sink balance and rotors
Wave length
Wave length, path length, and reentry
Restitution
Initiating reentry
Part II: Atrial fibrillation mechanisms
The evolution of current concepts
The mass hypothesis of atrial fibrillation
Principles of propagation: Implications for fibrillation
Focal rotors
Micro-reentry
Fibrillatory conduction or multi-wavelet reentry?
Location of atrial fibrillation drivers
Principles of propagation: Driver interactions in fibrillation
Part III: Working with incomplete information
Cardiac mapping
Sample density and atrial fibrillation
What should we do with the patient who comes to the lab tomorrow? Putting it all together (without "it all")
Putting it all together: Atrial fibrillation in three questions
Appendix A: Calculating probability in a random walk
Appendix B: Dominant frequency analysis
Appendix C: A stupid idea, but a learning opportunity