New Insights in Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation

Dear Colleagues,

Prevalence of atrial fibrillation is increasing worldwide and its management poses challenges that prompted the recent update of the European Society of Cardiology/European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery guidelines. Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation improved significantly over the past decade, but many patients still experience recurrent atrial fibrillation after the procedure leading to the need for repeat ablation.

In current guidelines, surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation is not recommended as first-line therapy due to the limited, though promising, available evidence, but it may be considered as initial therapy in selected patients. In particular, by comparing guideline recommendations of 2016 vs 2020, catheter or surgical ablation should be considered in patients with symptomatic persistent or long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (Class IIb in 2016), but only atrial fibrillation catheter ablation for pulmonary vein isolation is recommended for rhythm control after one failed or intolerant drug therapy (Class I in 2020). Thoracoscopic or hybrid surgical ablation for patients refractory to drug therapy or after failed percutaneous AF ablation stays as a Class IIa recommendation. In other words, the best treatment for atrial fibrillation, in particular the long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation, is still open.

Hence, this special issue “New insight in Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation” aims to provide a comprehensive overview of atrial fibrillation and discuss the contribution of novel approaches to advances in the treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation. Full papers and communications, as well as comprehensive reviews, are welcome. Please feel free to contact me, the guest editor, in case of further questions.

Dr. Giuseppe Nasso and Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Santarpino

Guest Editors

Manuscripts should be submitted via our online editorial system at https://imr.propub.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to start your submission. Manuscripts can be submitted now or up until the deadline. All papers will go through peer-review process. Accepted papers will be published in the journal (as soon as accepted) and meanwhile listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, reviews as well as short communications are preferred. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office to announce on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts will be thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. Please visit the Instruction for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) in this open access journal is 2200 USD. Submitted manuscripts should be well formatted in good English.