Interesting article on AFIB risk

[www.mdedge.com]

Here is the actual paper, which does not require a login: [www.bmj.com]

4 ablations and now diagnosed with beginning stage of heart failure. I wasn’t diagnosed with this prior to my first 2019 ablation. Everyone is different and I speculate ablations affect everyone differently. I asked if I had ventricular paced cardiomyopathy due to the my ventricles being paced by my pacemaker and was told no so my pacemaker isn’t the culprit.

I was stunned so I waited in the exam room with the country’s top heart failure and I insisted on a second opinion. He was as caring as Dr N and humored me so he called in the chief EP of the hospital. He also confirmed my heart failure and gave me a rx for HF drugs.

There may be replies who may dispute this “ Heart Failure not stroke most common complication of Atrial Fib” thread and the link..but I feel confident on my two opinions from two top specialists in the country where I live.

Side note: one month prior to my first ablation I had a ct angio, stress test, and nuclear scan which didn’t diagnose HF.

My understanding is that, stroke or HF, they are all statistical probabilities, not absolute end-states. That is to say, enough people do go on to get these if left uncontrolled that the literature warns of those consequences.

I understand that HF is likely for those who have intractable, difficult, or prolonged arrythmias of pretty much any/every kind. The heart is a composite of four chambers, but also four valves meant to greatly reduce backflow between them based on sequential contractions. Arrhythmias mess that process up, and it affects the substrate of the heart. We know of the problems with 'remodeling' that come from arrythmias, and that very lengthy article posted by sidabrowski yesterday described it all very comprehensively. The structural changes impose geometric and mass distributions not meant for a healthy heart. The myocytes begin to lose ground over pretty lengthy periods, bless their wee hearts, but those losses mean the heart begins to weaken. I know nothing about the treatment for HF, but I have read on other fora that many go on for many years in controlled HF.

And, bless you, Susan. If the world had just another ten people with your fortitude, it would be a vastly different place.

Thanks for posting the full paper, G!