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Cardiovascular Research 1999 44(2):249-251; doi:10.1016/S0008-6363(99)00248-5
© 1999 by European Society of Cardiology
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Copyright © 1999, European Society of Cardiology

Rate control in atrial fibrillation: role of atrial inputs to the AV node

Andrew C Rankin* and Antony J Workman

Department of Medical Cardiology, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, Scotland G31 2ER, UK

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-141-211-4833; fax: +44-141-552-4683 acrla@clinmed.gla.ac.uk

Received 16 August 1999; accepted 16 August 1999

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

See article by Garrigue et al. [11] (pages 344–355) in this issue.

A vital property of the atrioventricular (AV) node is its ability to prevent excessive ventricular rates in the presence of high atrial rates, in particular atrial fibrillation, a common clinical arrhythmia during which atrial rates may be up to 600 beats per minute. The mechanisms involved have been studied for over a century, but remain incompletely understood (for reviews see [1,2]). Many factors play a role in determining the ventricular rate and irregularity in response to rapid atrial rate. The refractory period of the AV node is of major importance [3,4], related to the unique electrophysiological properties of the AV nodal cells, in which the refractory period [3,4] extends beyond the time of repolarisation of the action potential, in contrast to atrial cells [5,6]. The atrial rate is also important and has a complex relationship . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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