Atrial Fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia and it can often feel like an on call shift is dominated by patients with AF when it is not controlled. Patients with AF present to Emergency Departments and acute medical takes frequently and it complicates many surgical patient admissions too. On the face of it, it is simple to manage with well-defined treatment options. However, the actual decision-making can feel unfamiliar and less straightforward when the picture becomes more complicated.

Professor Kahled Albouaini is a Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals, Liverpool. In this episode, he takes us through AF and simplifies many of the concepts and treatment options. As a bonus, we have a second VIDEO episode entitled "The Many Faces Of AF" that takes you through some of the ECG findings in AF and how to approach them.

Consider in each patient the four pillars of AF:

1. Trigger - assess for, investigate and treat any underlying causes
2. Rate (or rhythm) control - initiate beta-blockers and increase as needed
3. Anti-coagulation - assess stroke risk and bleeding risk
4. Echocardiogram - assesses the burden of AF, LV function and the presence of a thrombus

Thank you to Professor Albouaini for his help in producing this resource. You can check out his cardiology resources on facebook by searching for Cardiology Cases UK or take a look at his site that offers basic and advanced courses in cardiology: www.cardiologycases.co.uk

Speak soon

Gareth

@garEMlyn

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