SPONTANEOUS REDUCTION OF CHRONIC ATRIAL L ATE FIBRILLATION AFTER MITRAL VALVULOPLASTY - ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF RESTORATION OF MECHANICAL ATRIAL ACTIVITY

Spontaneous, long lasting reduction of chronic permanent atrial fibril lation, usually complicating rheumatic valvular heart disease, has rar ely been described in the literature. Its mechanism is unclear. In pra ctice, the question is to determine whether the electrical activation coincides with restoration of a mechanical atrial contraction. The aut hors report the case of a woman with mixed rheumatic aortic and mitral Valve disease (essentially mitral stenosis), in whom reversion to sin us rhythm was observed after 9 years of atrial fibrillation and which was long lasting (at least 9 months), and, above all, accompanied by a trial contraction documented for the first time to the best of the aut hors' knowledge, by Doppler echocardiography.