Early initiation of steroid therapy may be effective for AV block, and steroid therapy before device implantation is a possible therapeutic strategy for some selected patients.

The 3-month lower-dose flecainide therapy after AF ablation did not reduce the early and late arrhythmia recurrences. The clinically significant ATs were also not prevented.

The LA wall in the HCM patients with AF was not thicker than that of the matched patients without structural heart disease. Catheter ablation of AF showed favorable outcomes in both patient groups.

Background Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction depends on an impaired relaxation and stiffness. Abnormal LV relaxation contributes to the development of atrial fibrillation (AF), but the role of LV stiffness in AF remains unclear. Hypothesis Diastolic wall strain (DWS), a load‐independent, noninvasive direct measure of LV stiffness, correlates with prevalent AF. Methods This study included 328 consecutive subjects with structurally normal hearts: 164 paroxysmal AF patients and 164 age‐ and sex‐matched (1:1) controls. We calculated the DWS from the M‐mode echocardiographic measurements of the LV posterior wall thickness at end‐systole and end‐diastole during sinus rhythm. Results The DWS was lower in the AF patients (0.35 ± 0.07) than in the controls (0.41 ± 0.06; P < 0.001). After adjusting for the risk factors of AF using a conditional logistic regression analysis, a history of hypertension, plasma brain‐type natriuretic peptide level, and DWS were independently associated with AF prevalence, whereas body mass index, LV mass index, left atrial volume, and any conventional indices of the diastolic function were not. A low DWS (<0.380) was the strongest indicator of AF (odds ratio: 6.22, 95% confidence interval: 3.08‐14.2, P < 0.001). Conclusions Increased LV stiffness estimated by DWS was a strong determinant of the prevalence of AF. LV stiffness may play a role in the pathogenesis of paroxysmal AF in structurally normal hearts.

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