Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology
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J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · May 2010
ReviewOptimizing survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Cardiac arrest is an important public health problem and often occurs in the out-of-hospital setting in patients without a prior history of heart disease. Very few communities or emergency medical service (EMS) systems report survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. ⋯ Important current initiatives to improve cardiac arrest survival include hands-only CPR delivered by laypersons prior to the arrival of EMS, dispatcher-assisted CPR, and implementation of hospital-based therapeutic hypothermia protocols to improve postresuscitation care. Optimizing cardiac arrest survival requires a team effort between EMS directors, emergency physicians, cardiologists, hospital leadership, and the public.
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J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · May 2010
A prospective study evaluating the role of obesity and obstructive sleep apnea for outcomes after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.
Obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a strong association with atrial fibrillation (AF). The purpose of this study was to prospectively determine the effects of obesity, assessed by the body mass index (BMI) and OSA on the efficacy of catheter ablation of AF. ⋯ The results of this prospective study show that obesity, a modifiable risk factor, is an independent predictor of procedural failure after catheter ablation of AF. Whether treating obesity may improve the results of catheter ablation of AF warrants further investigation.
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J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · May 2010
The effect and safety of the antithrombotic therapies in patients with atrial fibrillation and CHADS score 1.
The revised ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 guideline recommends either aspirin or warfarin for the prevention of ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) in CHADS(2) score 1. We hypothesized that warfarin is superior to aspirin therapy for the prevention of stroke without increasing bleeding complication in AF patients with CHADS(2) score 1. ⋯ In AF patients with CHADS(2) score 1, warfarin was better to prevent ischemic stroke than aspirin without increasing the incidence of major bleeding complications. However, the incidence of minor bleeding was higher in the warfarin group than the aspirin group.