Atrial fibrillation treatment

What is atrial fibrillation?

Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of arrhythmia. Approx. 50,000 people in Denmark suffer from atrial fibrillation, either as attacks or as a chronic disorder. Some patients cannot be adequately treated with medication either due to insufficient effect or unacceptable adverse effects of the medication. Atrial fibrillation is often caused by extra heartbeats (extrasystoles) originating from the atria. The extrasystoles usually originate close to the lung veins that lead the fresh, oxidised blood from the lungs back to the heart.

How is the treatment of atrial fibrillation performed?

The treatment of atrial fibrillation consists in isolating the areas of the left atrium around the inlet from the lung veins electrically from the rest of the heart. This is done by placing some thermotherapy “circles” around the areas where the lung veins opens up to the left atrium. The thermotherapy has no effect on the ability of the blood to flow back to the heart from the lungs.

With the present technology, 30% of all patients require 2 operations to achieve the optimum result. When suffering from atrial fibrillation in the form of attacks, 80% or more can expect to be completely cured and others will experience that the number of attacks is reduced. In those cases where atrial fibrillation is a chronic condition, the expected result of the treatment is approx. 10% worse.

If you wish to learn more about treatment of atrial fibrillation or your possibilities of treatment, please call us at tel. +45 76 95 01 00.