Left atrial remodeling and response to valsartan in the prevention of recurrent atrial fibrillation: the GISSI-AF echocardiographic substudy.

Background: Left atrial (LA) dilation precedes or appears early after the onset of atrial fibrillation (AF) and factors in perpetuating the arrhythmia. Angiotensin receptor blockers were proposed for reversing LA remodeling. We evaluated the effect of valsartan on LA remodeling in patients with a recent episode of AF and the effect of LA size on AF recurrence (AFr).