Fibrotic atrial cardiomyopathy: A specific disease/syndrome supplying substrates for atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardia, sinus node disease, av node disease, and thromboembolic complications

摘要

The pathophysiology/substrate of the atria of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and clinically similar characteristics can present very differently, and these differences cannot be explained in all cases by differences in underlying heart disease, age, left atrial size, and "phenotype" (i.e., paroxysmal, persistent and long-standing persistent) of the arrhythmia. In addition, why do some relatively young patients with no or limited heart disease stay in paroxysmal AF for decades whereas some patients with the same clinical characteristics progress to persistent AF within weeks or months?