The Role of Echocardiography as a Predictor of the Incidence and Progression of Atrial Fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent sustained arrhythmia and is an independent risk factor for stroke and death. In recent years, major echocardiographic advances have been made with the development of new techniques and applications that can be extremely useful for the management of these patients. This paper describes the role of echocardiography as a predictor of the incidence and progression of atrial fibrillation. A detailed description of the most relevant studies and recognition of unresolved questions regarding this subject are presented here. A special emphasis will be given on new techniques that allow the assessment of myocardial deformation and their possible role in the way we treat these patients.