Atrial arrhythmogenesis in obstructive sleep apnea: Therapeutic implications

Dominik Linz; Benedikt Linz; Mathias Hohl; Michael Böhm

doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2015.03.003

Atrial arrhythmogenesis in obstructive sleep apnea: Therapeutic implications

Sleep Med Rev. 2016 Apr:26:87-94. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2015.03.003. Epub 2015 Apr 3.

Authors

Dominik Linz¹, Benedikt Linz², Mathias Hohl², Michael Böhm²

Affiliations

¹ Kardiologie, Angiologie und Internistische Intensivmedizin, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Germany. Electronic address: Dominik.linz@uks.eu.
² Kardiologie, Angiologie und Internistische Intensivmedizin, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Germany.

PMID: 26186892
DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2015.03.003

Abstract

The prevalence of sleep disordered breathing like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is 40-50%. OSA reduces success rate of catheter based and pharmacological antiarrhythmic treatment. Additionally, efficient treatment of OSA by continuous positive airway pressure ventilation (CPAP), the first line therapy of OSA, has been shown to improve catheter ablation success rates in AF-patients. A systematic literature search using several databases was performed to review the pathophysiology of obstructive apneas in OSA potentially leading to the development of a substrate for AF and to explain potential mechanisms involved in the clinically observed atrial antiarrhythmic effect of effective CPAP therapy.

Keywords: Animal experiment; Atrial electrophysiology; Atrial fibrillation; Continuous positive airway pressure; Obstructive sleep apnea; Renal denervation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Atrial Fibrillation / etiology*
Atrial Fibrillation / physiopathology
Catheter Ablation
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure / instrumentation
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure / methods
Humans
Models, Animal
Risk Factors
Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / complications
Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / physiopathology*
Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / therapy