Anti-inflammatory Drugs to Fix Post-operative Atrial Fibrillation

Approximately one-third of the patients that undergo heart surgery, such as coronary bypass or valve replacement, experience atrial fibrillation after their operation. Atrial fibrillation is a complication in which the heart twitches irregularly, causing arrhythmia. Typically, beta-blockers have been used to help with this issue, but there is no direct cure.

Recent findings suggest that cardiac inflammation is the main issue behind post-operation atrial fibrillation. Inflammation is the typical response for many tissues in the body after injury or surgery. It is a natural way for the body to speed up the healing process of the tissue. Dr. Ralph Damiano stated that "inflammation led to non-uniform conduction of electrical impulses in the atria." Inflammation in the heart could lead to electrical impulses not potentiating properly between muscles. This new discovery shows that anti-inflammatory therapy is a much better treatment to post-operational atrial fibrillation than beta-blockers. Damiano and many other researchers and working to find a treatment that will block the anti-inflammatory response of the heart while preserving the normal inflammatory response of the rest of the body.

Source:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3035495