Principles of Rhythm Management in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation is a multilateral arrhythmia, which causes the clinician to encounter difficulties in its therapeutic approach for each new patient. The purpose of this paper aims in particular at evaluating the management of atrial fibrillation, namely its cardioversion and rhythm control. The population study consisted of 50 patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, who underwent transesophageal echocardiographic investigation before cardioversion. All of these patients had transesophageal echocardiography. Certain echocardiographic parameters, such as the size of the left atrium, the presence of intracavitary thrombi, the left atrial appendage flow velocity, and the presence of spontaneous contrast, were taken into account. Cardioversion (electrical and pharmacological) was successful in 78.05% of patients. An appendage flow velocity greater than 40 cm/s, the absence of spontaneous contrast and the normal size of the left atrium, can be among the predictors of successful cardioversion.