Material and methods:
The study group consisted of 119 patients diagnosed with atrial
fibrillation. There were 57 women and 62 men, aged 65.3+/-9.4 years. The
essential co-morbidities were reported. There were 65 patients with
paroxysmal AF (AF group), in sinus rhythm during examination and 54
patients with persistent AF. In this group the electrical cardioversion
was performed to restore the sinus rhythm (CV group). An antiarrhythmic
medication, including beta-blockers, propafenone and amiodarone, also in
combinations, was also recorded. As the exact duration of the arrhythmia
episodes was not possible to recollect, we only included the patients
with persistent AF lasting from 2 to 24 weeks.
The P wave duration, was measured using LabSystemTMPro EP Recording System, Boston Scientific, where the ECG tracings
allowed assessing the sinus P waves. The P wave duration was measured
precisely in all leads at paper speed of 200 mm/s and enhancement
64-128. To avoid any influence of accidental measurement inaccuracies
all the measurements were repeated 5 times and the mean value was
presented as a result.
In patients with persistent form of atrial fibrillation the direct
current cardioversion was performed as standard clinical procedure under
general anesthesia using propofol 1 mg/kg and fentanyl 50 µg,
administered intravenously. Single shock of 300 J was successful in all
patients.
The study protocol was approved by the local Bioethical Committee at
Wroclaw Medical University.