Clinical significance of atrial fibrillation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and it bears numerous pathophysiologic consequences that potentially affect patient outcome and symptoms. However, studies regarding the impact of AF on the long-term prognosis of HCM patients have been limited in number, with sometimes conflicting results. Recently, studies on community-based patient populations showed that AF is associated with long-term clinical deterioration, embolic complications, and increased cardiovascular mortality due to heart failure and stroke. The consequences of AF on the long-term prognosis of HCM patients are not uniformly unfavorable, however, and in about one third of patients the arrhythmia is compatible with an uneventful course.