Sex-related differences of fatty acid-binding protein 4 and leptin levels in atrial fibrillation.

Aims: Adiposity plays a key role in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation (AF). Our aim was to study the sex differences in adipokines levels according to AF burden.

Methods And Results: Two independent cohorts of patients were studied: (i) consecutive patients with AF undergoing catheter ablation (n = 217) and (ii) a control group (n = 105).

Plasma FABP4 levels are associated with left atrial fat volume in persistent atrial fibrillation and predict recurrence after catheter ablation.

Background: Imaging techniques have shown the association between left atrial adipose tissue (LAAT) volume and atrial fibrillation (AF) risk.

Purpose: To analyze 1) adipokines in peripheral and atrial plasma from patients undergoing AF ablation; 2) its association with LAAT volume measured by multislice CT and 3) its predictive value for AF recurrence.

Methods: Seventy consecutive patients undergoing AF catheter ablation were screened.

Organ donation process: quinquennial analysis in a Spanish autonomous region.

Background: At present, transplantation of organs represents a therapeutic alternative, but the candidates for this treatment suffer from the scarcity of donors. We analyzed the process of the donation of organs in Galicia, an autonomous region in the northwest of Spain.

Methods: We summed all the potential donors in Galicia between January 1996 and December 2000 to analyze the reasons for nonconversion, the characteristics of the actual donors, and the use of the generated organs.