Ivabradine and AF: Coincidence, Correlation or a New Treatment?

Mahmoud Abdelnabi; Ashraf Ahmed; Abdallah Almaghraby; Yehia Saleh; Haitham Badran

doi:10.15420/aer.2019.30.2

Ivabradine and AF: Coincidence, Correlation or a New Treatment?

Arrhythm Electrophysiol Rev. 2020 Feb 12;8(4):300-303. doi: 10.15420/aer.2019.30.2.

Authors

Mahmoud Abdelnabi¹, Ashraf Ahmed², Abdallah Almaghraby², Yehia Saleh^{2

3}, Haitham Badran⁴

Affiliations

¹ Cardiology and Angiology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Internal Medicine, Medical Research Institute, University of Alexandria, Egypt.
² Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Egypt.
³ Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, US.
⁴ Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Ivabradine is a heart rate-lowering agent that inhibits pacemaker funny current (If). It has been approved by the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration for patients with stable angina and heart failure (HF). AF is a common issue especially in ischaemic heart disease and HF patients. In contrast to experimental findings and a limited number of clinical trials that demonstrate the emerging role of ivabradine for heart rate control in AF or maintenance of sinus rhythm, there is accumulating contradictory data indicating that there is, in fact, an increased incidence of new-onset AF among people who are taking ivabradine in clinical practice. This article reviews the most recent evidence highlighting the diversity of data in relation to the use of ivabradine and the onset of AF and whether it has a legitimate role in AF treatment and the maintenance of sinus rhythm.

Keywords: AF; If channels; If current; Ivabradine; acute coronary syndromes; angina; heart failure; heart rate.

Publication types

Review