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Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Estimating Bilateral Atrial Function by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: July 20, 2022
Sleep Disordered Breathing and the Pathogenesis of Atrial Fibrillation
Thomas Bitter1, Dieter Horstkotte1, Olaf Oldenburg1
1Department of Cardiology, Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia, Ruhr University Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.
Abstract:
This review illustrates the importance of sleep disordered breathing in evolution and progression of atrial fibrillation. While in early years associations were mainly attributed to the impact of hypoxemia and hypertension, nowadays multiple, additional pathways have been investigated or are currently under investigation. Sleep disordered breathing has been shown to have a direct impact on mechanical and electrical remodeling. In addition hypercapnia and negative intrathoracic pressure seem to alter atrial electrophysiology. Finally, impacts on inflammation and metabolic dysregulation display the complex interplay between breathing disorders and evolution and progression of atrial fibrillation.
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