Long-term health-related quality of life and rhythm outcomes of catheter ablation versus antiarrhythmic drugs in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Background: Data on long-term effects of catheter ablation vs antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and atrial fibrillation (AF) burden are limited.

Objective: The study aimed to assess long-term HRQoL and rhythm data in patients with symptomatic AF.

Methods: The 75 patients who underwent ablation and 74 receiving AADs in the Catheter Ablation compared with Pharmacological Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation (CAPTAF) trial were followed for 48 months.

Abnormal QRS-T angles in 5796 women and men aged 50-64: an electrocardiographic analysis providing mechanistic insights.

Introduction: Abnormal QRS-T angles are prognostic markers for cardiovascular deaths including sudden cardiac death. They occur in ∼5-6% of population-based cohorts but in ∼20% of patients with diabetes. The mechanistic background, electrical activation and/or recovery disturbances, is not known and the topic of this study.

Spatiotemporal repolarization dispersion before and after exercise in patients with long QT syndrome type 1 versus controls: probing into the arrhythmia substrate.

Congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) carries an increased risk for syncope and sudden death. QT prolongation promotes ventricular extrasystoles, which, in the presence of an arrhythmia substrate, might trigger ventricular tachycardia degenerating into fibrillation. Increased electrical heterogeneity (dispersion) is the suggested arrhythmia substrate in LQTS.