{"id":18649,"date":"2014-09-29T17:56:38","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T22:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=18649"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:47:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:47:40","slug":"atrial-fibrillation-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2014\/09\/29\/atrial-fibrillation-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month: 6 Facts Heart Valve Patients Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you didn&#8217;t know, September is National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month. As up to 35% of patients in our community have heart valve disease AND atrial fibrillation, here are 6 important facts about atrial fibrillation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27629\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/atrial-fibrilllation-awareness-month-september.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"314\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>1. What is Atrial Fibrillation?<\/h2>\n<p>Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice. Its incidence increases with age and the presence of structural heart disease &#8211; like valvular disorders including mitral regurgitation. Stroke and heart failure may result patients with atrial fibrillation.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>To help you learn more about atrial fibrillation, I made this video with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Vincent-Gaudiani-Mountain+View-California.php\">Dr. Vincent Gaudiani<\/a>, a leading heart valve surgeon who has performed over 10,000 cardiac procedures in Northern California.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe data-src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BlqHkfAxfgg?rel=0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>2.\u00a0 Is it common for patients with heart valve disease to have atrial fibrillation?<\/h2>\n<p>In an exchange with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Patrick-McCarthy-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Patrick McCarthy<\/a>, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern Medicine, I learned that about 30% his patients have a known pre-operative history of atrial fibrillation. Interestingly, some patients are asymptomatic and not aware they have atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is more common as you age. It usually starts out with episodes that come and go, so it can be difficult to document.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/..\/Images\/Dr-Patrick-McCarthy-WIth-Patient.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" \/><br \/>\nOver time, the Afib episodes become more frequent and may no longer convert to a normal rhythm on their own.\u00a0 Without treatment, Afib can become chronic.\u00a0 Having Afib increases the risk of stroke, so it is important to diagnose and treat it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>3.\u00a0\u00a0 Does valve disease cause Afib? Or, does Afib cause valve disease? Or, can they both impact each other?<\/h2>\n<p>Thanks to Jane Kruse, the heart valve and atrial fibrillation clinic coordinator at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/northwestern-memorial-valve-program\">Northwestern Medicine<\/a>, I learned that AFib doesn&#8217;t typically cause valve disease, but there is a relationship between them.\u00a0 Most Afib originates in the left atrium.\u00a0 In patients with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-symptoms-leaking.php\">mitral valve regurgitation<\/a>, the blood flows backwards into the left atrium and makes that heart chamber enlarge.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-diagram_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"265\" \/>Mitral Regurgitation Diagram<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Often, Afib will result from this.\u00a0 When this happens in asymptomatic patients with severe mitral regurgitation, it is a sign that it is time for surgery to fix the valve.\u00a0 Occasionally, Afib can cause mitral annular dilatation and lead to secondary mitral and\/or tricuspid valve regurgitation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>4.\u00a0 What percent of patients needing heart valve surgery require concomitant Afib treatment?<\/h2>\n<p>In discussing this question with Dr. McCarthy, I discovered that of all types of cardiac surgery patients presenting with a history of atrial fibrillation, Northwestern treats the atrial fibrillation in about 80% of the cases.\u00a0 It only adds a few minutes to the procedure and, in general, gives an 80% chance of eliminating the Afib.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>5.\u00a0 Is there anything else that heart valve patients should know about Afib?<\/h2>\n<p>Dr. McCarthy and Jane informed me that Afib can happen after cardiac surgery in about 30-40% of patients who never had Afib prior to surgery.\u00a0 This type of Afib is usually short-lived and resolves within a few months after surgery. When patients have Afib after surgery, they are started on new medications &#8212; for a few months &#8212; to thin the blood and help control the heart rhythm until they go back to a normal heart rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a video I recently filmed with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gillinov-Cleveland-Ohio.php\">Dr. Gillinov<\/a> about AFib after heart valve surgery.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ydZBp4B8KOY?rel=0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ydZBp4B8KOY?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>6. \u00a0Do you have any success stories of patients who have AFib and heart valve disease?<\/h2>\n<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve been very lucky to meet and to support many patients with AFib and heart valve disease. \u00a0Several of those stories are posted in our new\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/videos\/atrial-fibrillation\">AFib Videos section<\/a> of this website. Off the top of my head though, here are two stories you might like to watch. \u00a0The first success story is of Linda Staples, a grandmother from Indiana who was very, very, very sick prior to getting help from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gerdisch-Indianapolis-Indiana.php\">Dr. Marc Gerdisch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rPB6JgiZSHM?rel=0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rPB6JgiZSHM?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The second patient success story is of Mark Buciak, a 38-time Boston marathon runner, who was shocked to learn that he suffered from Afib and valvular disease.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QV1PakWoKxU?rel=0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QV1PakWoKxU?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I hope this helped you learn more about Afib. Thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Vincent-Gaudiani-Mountain+View-California.php\">Dr. Gaudiani<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Patrick-McCarthy-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. McCarthy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gillinov-Cleveland-Ohio.php\">Dr. Gillinov<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gerdisch-Indianapolis-Indiana.php\">Dr. Gerdisch<\/a> and Jane Kruse for sharing their research and clinical experiences treating patients with Afib and heart valve disease.<\/p>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atrial-fibrillation-afib"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18649"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43033,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18649\/revisions\/43033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}