Molecular biology and atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation remains one of the most challenging arrhythmias in card iology. Despite the overall advance in the treatment of patients with cardi ac dysrhythmias with the introduction of radiofrequency ablation, therapeut ic options in atrial fibrillation have remained largely unchanged and aimed at controlling the heart rate and anticoagulation. New surgical and ablati on compartmentalization techniques are being developed that are promising, but to date these techniques are still extremely laborious and available on ly to a handful of patients, Advances in genetics and molecular biology wil l likely give new insights into the development of the disease. Molecular b iology research is presently focused into two main fields: 1) identificatio n of the genes that cause familial forms of the disease, and 2) altered gen e expression during the disease state, These studies are aimed at identifyi ng not only the triggering factors in the acute form but also those that pr olong the arrhythmia and convert it into a chronic form. Curr Opin Cardiol 1999. 14:269-273 (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.