EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ARRHYTHMIA & ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY – VOLUME 7 ISSUE 1 – 2021

Welcome to a new issue of the European Journal of Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology. As the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to provide unprecedented challenges for electrophysiologists and other healthcare providers who manage arrhythmias, we hope you find these topical articles interesting and useful. We begin with an editorial from Professor Hugh Calkins and […]

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is, as its name implies, a tachycardia or elevated heart rate (more than 100 beats per minute) that originates above the ventricles (i.e. in the atria). Or, to use the specific terminology of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), SVT “literally indicates tachycardia, the mechanism of which involves tissue from the His […]

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) occurs with a prevalence of 2–3/1,000 in the general population and is characterised by atrial rates >100 beats per minute (bpm) at rest. Per definition, SVT originates in the atria or atrioventricular (AV) node tissue above the His bundle.1,2 Diagnosis and clinical management of SVT have been the focus of recent European Society […]

Several closely regulated ion channels are involved in the various phases of the myocardial action potential (phases 0–4) (Figure 1).1 In the absence of neuroendocrine and other regulatory signals, the pacing rate of the sinoatrial node is 100 beats per minute (bpm). However, heart rate is not fixed, and varies along with cardiac output in order […]

Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) often co-exist. The incidence of AF is estimated to reach 45% of patients with HF and rises with the severity of HF symptoms, from about 5% of patients in the New York Heart Association (NYHA) class I to 50% in NYHA class IV.1–4 Consistently, the incidence of AF […]

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia observed in clinical practice worldwide.1 The incidence of AF is around 0.1% in individuals under 55 years old and 9% in those aged over 80.2 The global prevalence of AF is estimated to be around 44 million, which is approximately 0.5% of the total world population.3,4 Therefore, […]

The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has developed into a worldwide pandemic affecting millions of lives in one way or another.1 Over the period of 1 year since the disease was first reported from Wuhan, China,2 COVID-19 has infected over 50 million patients and resulted […]

Vasovagal syncope is common, and while it is usually associated with a benign prognosis, it results in significant physical and psychological morbidity for affected individuals. Despite comprehensive understanding of the underlying pathophysiology, there have been few definitive therapeutic advances until recent randomized, controlled trials in pharmacotherapy, pacing and cardioneuroablation. In this review, we highlight the […]