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October 14, 2008 8:56 AM CT Mellanie True Hills' story of living with atrial fibrillation was featured in the September 2008 issue of EP Lab Digest along with background about StopAfib.org. Read the article at:  Patient Perspectives: Living With Atrial Fibrillation The article includes a sidebar, What Your Patients Wish You Knew, which you won't want …

October 9, 2008 7:56 AM CT A new Canadian study indicates that having a pneumonia vaccination halves your risk of having a heart attack two years later. Read about the study:  Pneumonia Vaccine Lowers Chances of Heart Attack In recent years we have been focusing more on inflammation as a source of heart attacks. Since pneumonia …

October 8, 2008 7:32 AM CT You know that I'm concerned about the relationship between sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation. You also know that atrial fibrillation can overwork the heart and lead to heart failure. Thus, a newly launched study investigating how breathing difficulties during sleep affect heart failure patients is very heartening in that hopefully …

October 7, 2008 7:56 AM CT I'm always concerned about the communication problems between atrial fibrillation patients and their doctors and am constantly on the lookout for ways to improve that. I find that so many afib patients are intimidated by their doctors, and thus don't always ask the questions they would like. That means that …

September 23, 2008 6:23 AM CT The third issue of the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation is now available. A new addition this issue is the patient-friendly abstract. Here are the topics in this issue: Underutilization of Warfarin Therapy in Elderly Patients with Atrial Fibrillation – Fear or False Sense of Security! Echocardiographic Predictors of Symptomatic Atrial …

September 21, 2008 6:20 AM CT The designation of September as Atrial Fibrillation Month is currently included in the register of dates, Chase's Calendar of Events. A resolution has now been introduced into the U.S. Congress requesting that September be officially recognized as “National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month.”  On September 15, a resolution was introduced in the U.S. …

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mellanie True Hills at 940-466-9898 or www.stopafib.org/contact.cfm Dallas, TX (August 2008) — Atrial fibrillation patient resource, StopAfib.org, proclaims September 2008 as Atrial Fibrillation Month to raise awareness of atrial fibrillation, a life-threatening irregular heartbeat. Commonly known as afib, atrial fibrillation is a misfiring of the electrical signals of the heart involving …

The latest experts answering questions in the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation's "Meet the Experts" section are Dr. Larry Chinitz and Dr. Ralph Damiano. Dr. Chinitz is the director for cardiac electrophysiology at NYU Langone Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine. He is an expert in AF ablation, medical management of AF, ICDs and Echocardiography. …

September 18, 2008 6:29 AM CT Since many who have atrial fibrillation also have high blood pressure, this interesting new study out of Vanderbilt University Medical Center may be of value to know about. The current U.S. guidelines for treating hypertension (high blood pressure) call for treatment with a thiazide diuretic. While thiazide diuretics reduce …