Professor Paulus Kirchhof at ESC Congress 2013: Personalised management to close mortality gap for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF)

27-8-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — The fourth AFNET/EHRA consensus conference was convened to discuss how to identify the underlying main pathophysiologies of AF in individual patients so that more targeted therapies could be developed to close the mortality gap.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Tuesday 27 August 2013: Personalised management is the only way to close the mortality gap for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), says paper published online in EP EUROPACE today.

The Atrial Fibrillation competence NETwork (AFNET) and European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) consensus paper is published online today in the European Journal of Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Electrophysiology (EP-Europace) (1) and will also be presented during the ESC Congress session on personalised cardiology.

Professor Kirchhof commented: “Acute and 1-year mortality after myocardial infarction has dropped by two-thirds in the last 10 to 15 years primarily because of medical interventions aimed at the principal pathophysiology causing the disease. For example acute revascularization procedures are used to treat a thrombotic blockage of the artery while statins prevent the development and rupture of coronary plaques.”

But he added: “We are in an intermediate position with AF. With the introduction of oral anticoagulant therapy we can prevent about two-thirds of all strokes in AF. But patients with AF still have a higher mortality compared to their age and cardiovascular risk matched peers without AF, and we are not able to reduce that mortality by much even when we apply all the evidence based therapies.”(2,3)

The fourth AFNET/EHRA consensus conference was convened to discuss how to identify the underlying main pathophysiologies of AF in individual patients so that more targeted therapies could be developed to close the mortality gap. Professor Kirchhof said: “This requires understanding the disease mechanisms and translating them into parameters we can measure in patients. This is particularly difficult for AF because the left atrium is a small part of the heart located posteriorly in the body and difficult to access.”

A certain degree of personalisation is already practised in AF. Stroke risk scores based on clinically measurable risk factors aid decisions on anticoagulant therapy while the severity of AF symptoms help to determine rhythm control therapy.

The consensus paper identifies three main ways to better characterise the underlying cause of AF in order to improve treatment: the electrocardiogram (ECG); imaging, especially echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); and biomarkers (proteins or genes measured in blood to identify the type of AF).

A new taxonomy of AF is proposed based on its pathophysiology. Professor Kirchhof said: “The classification is imperfect because there are overlaps between categories and the majority of AF patients fall into the ‘unclassified AF’ group. But it illustrates that we need a better understanding of why AF develops in an individual patient before we can classify them based on biomarkers, imaging or ECG, in addition to clinical parameters, and develop better therapies.”

He added: “The hope is that within the next few years we will be able to propose personalised management of AF and thereby reduce the excess mortality associated with the disease.”

Professor Kirchhof continued: “There is still plenty of room to improve the management of AF even if we apply all the evidence based therapies currently available – for example the new oral anticoagulants have improved mortality by just 5-10%. And every fourth patient with AF is admitted to hospital at least once a year due to AF, which illustrates the high morbidity and healthcare costs associated with the disease.”

He concluded: “This is the first European consensus document on personalised management of AF, which is the most promising way to further improve morbidity and mortality in AF patients.”

Authors: ESC Press Office
Tel: +33 (0) 4 92 94 86 27
Tel:+ 33 (0) 4 9294 77 56
Email: press@escardio.org

Notes to editor

About the European Heart Rhythm Association
The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) is a registered branch of the ESC. Its aim is to improve the quality of life of the European population by reducing the impact of cardiac arrhythmias and reducing sudden cardiac death.

About AFNET
The German Competence Network on Atrial Fibrillation (AFNET) is an interdisciplinary research network located in Germany. AFNET aims at improving care of patients with atrial fibrillation by promoting research, medical services and information in emerging diagnostic and therapeutic fields. The network has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education since 2003. As the public funding of the AFNET will not be everlasting, AFNET has founded the association Kompetenznetz Vorhofflimmern e.V. (AFNET e.V.) that will continue the network activities in the long term.

About the European Society of Cardiology
The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) represents more than 80 000 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean. Its mission is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Europe.

About ESC Congress 2013
The ESC Congress is currently the world’s premier conference on the science, management and prevention of cardiovascular disease.  The spotlight of this year’s event is “The Heart Interacting with Systemic Organs”.  ESC Congress 2013 takes place from 31 August to 4 September at the RAI centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands. More information is available from the ESC .

References
(1) Personalized management of atrial fibrillation: Proceedings from the fourth Atrial Fibrillation competence NETwork/European Heart Rhythm Association consensus conference.
EP Europace 2013; doi: doi:10.1093/europace/eut232
(2) Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation. European Heart Journal. 2010;31:2369–2429.
(3) 2012 focused update of the ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation. European Heart Journal. 2012;33:2719–2747.

The consensus document will be discussed at the  ESC Congress 2013 Session:  Towards a more personalised cardiology: outcomes of an ESC workshop. The role of ‘personalised medicine’  – Chisinau – Central Village – 3 Sep  08:30 – 10:00 More information available on ESC Congress 365 after the scientific session: slides and webcast when available