Maintaining Sinus Rhythm — Making Treatment Better Than the Disease

Atrial fibrillation affects patients by increasing their risk of stroke and decreasing their quality of life. Unfortunately, even if restoration of sinus rhythm is possible, most patients remain at risk for stroke and need continued protection with anticoagulation therapy.1,2 Patients with atrial fibrillation usually have shortness of breath, palpitations, and chest pain. An additional and less well appreciated symptom is fatigue, a nonspecific symptom in the elderly population that has a broad differential diagnosis. Since the risk of atrial fibrillation increases with age and since the mean age of Western populations is steadily rising, the well-described projected increase in . . .