This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Related Collections Related Articles

(Circulation. 2005;112:2887.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Issue Highlights

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	REVERSE REMODELING OF THE LEFT CARDIAC CHAMBERS AFTER CATHETER ABLATION AFTER 1 YEAR IN A SERIES OF PATIENTS WITH ISOLATED ATRIAL FIBRILLATION, by Reant et al.

 
In patients with atrial fibrillation and no specific associated heart disease, there are identifiable abnormalities in structure and function, including left atrial dilation and abnormalities in diastolic ventricular function. An intriguing issue has been whether diastolic abnormalities are cause or consequence; are filling abnormalities related to the abnormal atrial dynamics, or might diastolic dysfunction (and consequent left atrial dilation) represent a driver of atrial fibrillation onset and maintenance? In this issue of Circulation, Reant and colleagues begin to dissect this issue by studying patients with isolated atrial fibrillation with echocardiography before and then 5 times during the year after radiofrequency ablation back to sinus rhythm. Left atrial size decreased, ventricular diastolic parameters improved, and ejection fraction increased. These data suggest that atrial fibrillation results in reversible structural and functional atrial and ventricular abnormalities in the absence of other specific pathologies. Diastolic abnormalities appear in large part a consequence rather than a cause of atrial fibrillation. See p 2896.

	MINERALOCORTICOID RECEPTOR ANTAGONISM AMELIORATES LEFT VENTRICULAR DIASTOLIC DYSFUNCTION AND MYOCARDIAL FIBROSIS IN MILDLY SYMPTOMATIC PATIENTS WITH IDIOPATHIC DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY: A PILOT STUDY, by Izawa et al.

 
Landmark clinical trials have previously demonstrated the benefits of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism in patients with symptomatic congestive heart failure. In fact, the Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study (RALES) found that the addition of spironolactone to standard therapy reduced mortality by 30% in patients with NYHA class III or IV congestive heart failure. On the basis of these results, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists have become widely accepted as part of the standard therapeutic regimen for patients with advanced symptoms due to congestive heart failure. It has been suggested that one mechanism by which . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Articles:

Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonism Ameliorates Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Myocardial Fibrosis in Mildly Symptomatic Patients With Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy: A Pilot Study

Hideo Izawa, Toyoaki Murohara, Kohzo Nagata, Satoshi Isobe, Hiroyuki Asano, Tetsuya Amano, Sahoko Ichihara, Tomoko Kato, Satoru Ohshima, Yosuke Murase, Shigeo Iino, Koji Obata, Akiko Noda, Kenji Okumura, and Mitsuhiro Yokota
Circulation 2005 112: 2940-2945. [Abstract] [Full Text]

Homocysteine and Its Effects on In-Stent Restenosis

Giuseppe De Luca, Harry Suryapranata, Giovanni Gregorio, Helmut Lange, and Massimo Chiariello
Circulation 2005 112: e307-e311. [Extract] [Full Text]

Medical Treatment of Varicose Veins

William Foster and Gerry Coghlan
Circulation 2005 112: e312. [Extract] [Full Text]

Acute Type I Aortic Dissection With Concomitant Pulmonary Artery Dissection

G. Khatchatourian and D. Vala
Circulation 2005 112: e313-e314. [Extract] [Full Text]

Detection of Active Coronary Arterial Vasculitis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Kawasaki Disease

Colin J. McMahon, Jason T. Su, Michael D. Taylor, Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Raja Muthupillai, John P. Kovalchin, Taylor Chung, and G. Wesley Vick, III
Circulation 2005 112: e315-e316. [Extract] [Full Text]

Letter Regarding Article by Diwan et al, "Doppler Estimation of Left Ventricular Filling Pressures in Patients With Mitral Valve Disease" • Response

Jin-Oh Choi, Sang-Chol Lee, Seung Woo Park, Abhinav Diwan, Marti McCulloch, Gerald M. Lawrie, Michael J. Reardon, and Sherif F. Nagueh
Circulation 2005 112: e317. [Extract] [Full Text]

Reverse Remodeling of the Left Cardiac Chambers After Catheter Ablation After 1 Year in a Series of Patients With Isolated Atrial Fibrillation

Patricia Reant, Stephane Lafitte, Pierre Jaïs, Karim Serri, Rukshen Weerasooriya, Meleze Hocini, Xavier Pillois, Jacques Clementy, Michel Haïssaguerre, and Raymond Roudaut
Circulation 2005 112: 2896-2903. [Abstract] [Full Text]

Absorption, Metabolization, and Antiplatelet Effects of 300-, 600-, and 900-mg Loading Doses of Clopidogrel: Results of the ISAR-CHOICE (Intracoronary Stenting and Antithrombotic Regimen: Choose Between 3 High Oral Doses for Immediate Clopidogrel Effect) Trial

Nicolas von Beckerath, Dirk Taubert, Gisela Pogatsa-Murray, Edgar Schömig, Adnan Kastrati, and Albert Schömig
Circulation 2005 112: 2946-2950. [Abstract] [Full Text]