Cytosolic calcium handling signature: integration with clinical predictors enhances prediction of post-operative atrial fibrillation
European Heart Journal
Atrial fibrillation (AF) begets AF – this famous paper by Maurits Allessie* coined a concept in which electrical remodeling induced by AF predisposes to develop AF.
A key factor of this remodeling is downregulated calcium currents. In this study, Fakuade et al. reveal that in atrial myocytes of patients with sinus rhythm who develop AF after cardiac surgery, calcium transients are already reduced when they enter cardiac surgery, and this defect predicts post-operative AF risk and enhances clinical risk prediction scores. To find out whether incorporating functional analyses of atrial cardiomyocytes may improve predictive-model accuracy in AF, read the full story.
