Atrial Fibrillation

Eric Goralnick; Laura J Bontempo

doi:10.1016/j.emc.2015.04.008

Atrial Fibrillation

Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2015 Aug;33(3):597-612. doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2015.04.008. Epub 2015 Jun 10.

Authors

Eric Goralnick¹, Laura J Bontempo²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: egoralnick@partners.org.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 6th Floor, Suite 200, 110 South Paca Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.

PMID: 26226868
DOI: 10.1016/j.emc.2015.04.008

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a supraventricular tachyarrhythmia that results from the chaotic depolarization of atrial tissue. AF is the most common sustained cardiac dysrhythmia and the most common dysrhythmia diagnosed in US emergency departments. All patients with AF must have their cardioembolic risk assessed, even if sinus rhythm is restored. Novel oral anticoagulants may be considered instead of vitamin K antagonists for anticoagulation in patients with nonvalvular AF.

Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Atrial flutter; Cardioembolic stroke.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / therapeutic use
Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / therapeutic use*
Anticoagulants / therapeutic use
Atrial Fibrillation / diagnosis
Atrial Fibrillation / drug therapy*
Atrial Fibrillation / etiology
Calcium Channel Blockers / therapeutic use
Disease Management
Fibrinolytic Agents / therapeutic use
Humans
Potassium Channel Blockers / therapeutic use
Risk Factors
United States
Vitamin K / antagonists & inhibitors

Substances

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists
Anti-Arrhythmia Agents
Anticoagulants
Calcium Channel Blockers
Fibrinolytic Agents
Potassium Channel Blockers
Vitamin K