The Atrial Fibrillation Association in the UK was shocked by the decision by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to deny atrial fibrillation patients access to dronedarone, a medication that has been approved in the U.S. and Europe. AFA is conducting a campaign to make the voices of atrial fibrillation patients heard. …
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At Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium 2010, Dr. Vivek Reddy shared with us some of the new atrial fibrillation catheter ablation techniques and also talked about non-pharmacological approaches to afib stroke prevention. See the video: Interview with Dr. Vivek Reddy at Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium 2010
Read MoreAt Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium 2010, Prof. John Camm talked about the two newest antiarrhythmic drugs for atrial fibrillation treatment, dronedarone (Multaq®) and vernakalant. These antiarrhythmic (rhythm control) drugs help to put patients back into normal sinus rhythm, or to keep them in it. See the video: Interview with Professor John Camm at Boston Atrial …
Read MoreAt Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium 2010, Dr. Andrea Natale shared with us some of the new directions in atrial fibrillation treatment, including the newer hybrid procedures combining catheter ablation and surgery for chronic or persistent atrial fibrillation, and contact force sensing. See the video: Interview with Dr. Andrea Natale at Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium 2010
Read MoreBoston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium will be this week, so watch for great info about the latest in atrial fibrillation causes and risk factors, and afib treatments, including medication, catheter ablation, and surgery. If you're going, please let me know so we can meet. StopAfib will be tweeting again from Boston Afib (1/14/10-1/16/10), so please follow …
Read MoreIf you're looking for a group of folks who have the kind of atrial fibrillation that you do, check out the StopAfib.org discussion forums. If you are a young afibber, or have valvular afib or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and afib, or if you're interested in afib and exercise, afib and pregnancy, afib and sleep apnea, or …
Read MoreIf you have a problem getting Medicare, Medicare Advantage, or your health insurance plan to cover an atrial fibrillation treatment, such as an afib medication, catheter ablation, or mini maze surgery, you don’t have to take "no" for an answer. You can push back by requesting a "coverage determination" or submitting an appeal. To learn …
Read MoreThis very important story may change how afib patients and their doctors decide if they should be on anticoagulant medications (blood thinners), such as Coumadin or warfarin. The CHADS2 scoring system is how doctors now decide who should be on Coumadin or warfarin to avoid strokes, but a newly-published study adds new stroke risk factors …
Read MoreRECORD AF registry findings were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. This registry looked at how newly-diagnosed afib patients were being managed in the real world. These results differed from previously-reported research, such as the AFFIRM (Atrial Fibrillation Follow-up Investigation of Rhythm Management) trial. In the real world, more cardiologists chose rhythm drugs …
Read MoreSleep apnea, a sleep disorder that disrupts breathing during sleep, is believed to be linked to atrial fibrillation (AF) but until now, we didn’t know if apnea could actually trigger arrhythmias like afib. Now a new study shows the odds of having an abnormal heartbeat are 18 times higher immediately after an apnea episode, compared …
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