The anti-arrhythmic effects of prednisone in patients with sarcoidosis.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects 2.3 million people in the United States and is currently the most common cardiac arrhythmia. Its overall prevalence is only increasing as the population ages. The classical risk factors for developing AF include hypertension, valvular disease, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and thyroid disease. In some patients with AF, an underlying cardiovascular pathology is not identified and the etiology remains unknown. Treatment modalities for AF typically include rate control medications, antiarrhythmics and radio frequency ablation (RFA), each of which is accompanied by its own risk of complications. We report a case of symptomatic AF that was refractory to multiple antiarrhythmics and an RFA procedure which resolved with prednisone. In this case, AF was associated with cardiac sarcoidosis, a disorder that is thought to be due to granulomatous involvement of the myocardium and increased systemic inflammation.