Calkins H, Brugada J, Packer DL, Cappato R, Chen SA, Crijns HJ, et al. HRS/EHRA/ECAS expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: recommendations for personnel, policy, procedures and follow-up. A report of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) task force on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation developed in partnership with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) and the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society (ECAS); in collaboration with the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Endorsed and approved by the governing bodies of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society, the European Heart Rhythm Association, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the Heart Rhythm Society. Europace. 2007;9:335–79.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Calkins H, Kuck KH, Cappato R, Brugada J, Camm AJ, Chen SA, et al. 2012 HRS/EHRA/ECAS expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: recommendations for patient selection, procedural techniques, patient management and follow-up, definitions, endpoints, and research trial design: a report of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) task force on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation. Developed in partnership with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society (ECAS); and in collaboration with the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS), and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Endorsed by the governing bodies of the American College of Cardiology Foundation, the American Heart Association, the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society, the European Heart Rhythm Association, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, and the Heart Rhythm Society. Heart Rhythm. 2012;9:632-96.e21.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Calkins H, Hindricks G, Cappato R, Kim Y-H, Saad EB, Aguinaga L, et al. 2017 HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: executive summary. J Arrhythm. 2017;33:369–409.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

January CT, Wann LS, Calkins H, Chen LY, Cigarroa JE, Cleveland JC Jr, et al. 2019 AHA/ACC/HRS focused update of the 2014 AHA/ACC/HRS guideline for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on clinical practice guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society in collaboration with the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Circulation. 2019;140:e125-51.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Hindricks G, Potpara T, Dagres N, Arbelo E, Bax JJ, Blomstrom-Lundqvist C, et al. 2020 ESC guidelines for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS): the task force for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) developed with the special contribution of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the ESC. Eur Heart J. 2021;42:373–498.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Diederichsen SZ, Haugan KJ, Brandes A, Lanng MB, Graff C, Krieger D, et al. Natural history of subclinical atrial fibrillation detected by implanted loop recorders. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;74:2771–81.

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Aguilar M, Macle L, Deyell MW, Yao R, Hawkins NM, Khairy P, et al. Influence of monitoring strategy on assessment of ablation success and postablation atrial fibrillation burden assessment: implications for practice and clinical trial design. Circulation. 2022;145:21–30.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

January CT, Wann LS, Calkins H, Chen LY, Cigarroa JE, Cleveland JC Jr, et al. 2019 AHA/ACC/HRS focused update of the 2014 AHA/ACC/HRS guideline for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on clinical practice guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;74:104–32.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Andrade JG, Aguilar M, Atzema C, Bell A, Cairns JA, Cheung CC, et al. The 2020 Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Heart Rhythm Society comprehensive guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation. Can J Cardiol. 2020;36:1847–948.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

NHFA CSANZ Atrial Fibrillation Guideline Working Group, Brieger D, Amerena J, Attia J, Bajorek B, Chan KH, et al. National Heart Foundation of Australia and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand: Australian clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation 2018. Heart Lung Circ. 2018;27:1209–66.

Article  Google Scholar 

Cheung CC, Nattel S, Macle L, Andrade JG. Management of atrial fibrillation in 2021: an updated comparison of the current CCS/CHRS, ESC, and AHA/ACC/HRS guidelines. Can J Cardiol. 2021;37:1607–18.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Wijffels MC, Kirchhof CJ, Dorland R, Allessie MA. Atrial fibrillation begets atrial fibrillation. A study in awake chronically instrumented goats. Circulation. 1995;92:1954–68.

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Fareh S, Villemaire C, Nattel S. Importance of refractoriness heterogeneity in the enhanced vulnerability to atrial fibrillation induction caused by tachycardia-induced atrial electrical remodeling. Circulation. 1998;98:2202–9.

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Crijns HJ, van Wijk LM, van Gilst WH, Kingma JH, van Gelder IC, Lie KI. Acute conversion of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm: clinical efficacy of flecainide acetate. Comparison of two regimens. Eur Heart J. 1988;9:634–8.

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Suttorp MJ, Kingma JH, Jessurun ER, Lie AHL, van Hemel NM, Lie KI. The value of class IC antiarrhythmic drugs for acute conversion of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation or flutter to sinus rhythm. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1990;16:1722–7.

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Andrade JG, Deyell MW, Verma A, Macle L, Champagne J, Leong-Sit P, et al. Association of atrial fibrillation episode duration with arrhythmia recurrence following ablation: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3: e208748.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Boriani G, Botto GL, Padeletti L, Santini M, Capucci A, Gulizia M, et al. Improving stroke risk stratification using the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc risk scores in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation by continuous arrhythmia burden monitoring. Stroke. 2011;42:1768–70.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Van Gelder IC, Healey JS, Crijns H, Wang J, Hohnloser SH, Gold MR, et al. Duration of device-detected subclinical atrial fibrillation and occurrence of stroke in ASSERT. Eur Heart J. 2017;38:1339–44.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Chew DS, Li Z, Steinberg BA, O’Brien EC, Pritchard J, Bunch TJ, et al. Arrhythmic burden and the risk of cardiovascular outcomes in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and cardiac implanted electronic devices. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2022;15: e010304.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Charitos EI, Purerfellner H, Glotzer TV, Ziegler PD. Clinical classifications of atrial fibrillation poorly reflect its temporal persistence: insights from 1,195 patients continuously monitored with implantable devices. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;63:2840–8.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Andrade JG, Yao RRJ, Deyell MW, Hawkins NM, Rizkallah J, Jolly U, et al. Clinical assessment of AF pattern is poorly correlated with AF burden and post ablation outcomes: a CIRCA-DOSE sub-study. J Electrocardiol. 2020;60:159–64.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

De With RR, Erkuner O, Rienstra M, Nguyen BO, Korver FWJ, Linz D, et al. Temporal patterns and short-term progression of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: data from RACE V. Europace. 2020;22:1162–72.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Blum S, Meyre P, Aeschbacher S, Berger S, Auberson C, Briel M, et al. Incidence and predictors of atrial fibrillation progression: a systematic review and metaanalysis. Heart Rhythm. 2019;16:502–10.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Kopecky SL, Gersh BJ, McGoon MD, Whisnant JP, Holmes DR, Ilstrup DM, et al. The natural history of lone atrial fibrillation. A population-based study over three decades. N Engl J Med. 1987;317:669–74.

Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Pappone C, Radinovic A, Manguso F, Vicedomini G, Ciconte G, Sacchi S, et al. Atrial fibrillation progression and management: a 5-year prospective follow-up study. Heart Rhythm. 2008;5:1501–7.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Simantirakis EN, Papakonstantinou PE, Kanoupakis E, Chlouverakis GI, Tzeis S, Vardas PE. Recurrence rate of atrial fibrillation after the first clinical episode: a prospective evaluation using continuous cardiac rhythm monitoring. Clin Cardiol. 2018;41:594–600.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Andrade JG, Deyell MW, Macle L, Wells GA, Bennett M, Essebag V, et al. Progression of atrial fibrillation after cryoablation or drug therapy. N Engl J Med. 2022;388:105–16.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Nguyen BO, Weberndorfer V, Crijns HJ, Geelhoed B, Ten Cate H, Spronk H, et al. Prevalence and determinants of atrial fibrillation progression in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Heart. 2022;109:186–94.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Potpara TS, Stankovic GR, Beleslin BD, Polovina MM, Marinkovic JM, Ostojic MC, et al. A 12-year follow-up study of patients with newly diagnosed lone atrial fibrillation: implications of arrhythmia progression on prognosis: the Belgrade atrial fibrillation study. Chest. 2012;141:339–47.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Padfield GJ, Steinberg C, Swampillai J, Qian H, Connolly SJ, Dorian P, et al. Progression of paroxysmal to persistent atrial fibrillation: 10-year follow-up in the Canadian Registry of Atrial Fibrillation. Heart Rhythm. 2017;14:801–7.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Piccini JP, Passman R, Turakhia M, Connolly AT, Nabutovsky Y, Varma N. Atrial fibrillation burden, progression, and the risk of death: a case-crossover analysis in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices. Europace. 2019;21:404–13.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

de Vos CB, Pisters R, Nieuwlaat R, Prins MH, Tieleman RG, Coelen RJ, et al. Progression from paroxysmal to persistent atrial fibrillation clinical correlates and prognosis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2010;55:725–31.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Kerr CR, Humphries KH, Talajic M, Klein GJ, Connolly SJ, Green M, et al. Progression to chronic atrial fibrillation after the initial diagnosis of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: results from the Canadian Registry of Atrial Fibrillation. Am Heart J. 2005;149:489–96.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Parkash R, Green MS, Kerr CR, Connolly SJ, Klein GJ, Sheldon R, et al. The association of left atrial size and occurrence of atrial fibrillation: a prospective cohort study from the Canadian Registry of Atrial Fibrillation. Am Heart J. 2004;148:649–54.

Article  PubMed