Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 13, 2025
08:10
Estimating Bilateral Atrial Function by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: July 20, 2022
1.8K
Rhythm control benefits left ventricular function compared with rate control in patients with atrial fibrillation: A
Rosie K Barrows1,2, Christoph M Augustin3,4, Matthias A F Gsell3
1School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Heart Rhythm O2
|July 30, 2025
Summary
Rhythm control significantly improves left ventricular (LV) function in atrial fibrillation (AF) more than rate control. However, benefits are limited if atrial contraction is ineffective or heart rate remains irregular.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical simulation
- Computational physiology
Background:
- Atrial fibrillation (AF) disrupts heart rate, rhythm, and atrial contraction, potentially increasing heart failure risk.
- The impact of rate and rhythm control strategies on left ventricular (LV) function in AF patients requires further clarification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the individual and combined effects of heart rate, rhythm regularity, and atrial contraction on LV function in AF patients.
- To model and predict changes in LV ejection fraction (EF) and stroke volume (SV) under various simulated AF treatment scenarios.
Main Methods:
- Developed 10 patient-specific whole-heart models simulating AF with varying heart rate, rhythm regularity, and atrial contraction.
- Modeled AF as fast, irregular rhythm without atrial contraction.
- Simulated pharmacologic rate control (slow irregular rate), paced rate control (slow regular rate), and rhythm control (slow regular rate with atrial contraction).
Main Results:
- Rhythm control demonstrated superior LVEF improvement (+5.1%) compared to pharmacologic rate control (+2.8%).
- Paced rate control showed similar LVEF improvements to pharmacologic rate control (+2.6% vs +2.8%).
- Atrial contraction did not enhance ventricular function when heart rate remained irregular.
Conclusions:
- Rhythm control offers greater benefits for LV function in AF patients than rate control strategies.
- Restoring sinus rhythm may provide limited LV function improvements if atrial contraction is ineffective or heart rate irregularity persists.
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