IS LONE ATRIAL-FIBRILLATION GENETICALLY-D ETERMINED - A FAMILY CASE-HISTORY REPORT

The authors report five cases of apparently lone atrial fibrillation i n five members of the same family from three generations. The atrial f ibrillation occurred at an early age and rapidly became permanent in a ll cases. With time, in the absence of complications, structural cardi ac abnormalities were documented by echocardiography (biatrial dilatat ion and mitral and tricuspid regurgiation). These observations raise t he question of genetic predisposition to lone atrial fibrillation at l east in this particular clinical context.