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Previous Volume 344:1468-1470 May 10, 2001 Number 19 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Dating back to the 17th-century observation that cinchona bark could correct an irregular heartbeat in patients with malaria,¹ cardioversion of atrial fibrillation is one of the oldest therapies in cardiovascular medicine. In 1962, Lown et al. reported the efficacy of direct-current cardioversion of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm,² thereby profoundly changing the treatment of this most common sustained arrhythmia. Restoration of sinus rhythm provided numerous physiological benefits,³ but as with most new therapies, direct-current cardioversion also had adverse outcomes, including catastrophic thromboembolism in up to 6.3 percent of patients who were not receiving anticoagulant therapy.^4,5 Nonrandomized studies suggested that warfarin . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Stellbrink, C. (2006). Quick, easy, and safe? On the use of low-molecular-weight heparins in cardioversion of atrial fibrillation. Eur Heart J 27: 2742-2743 [Full Text]  
• Aronow, W. S. (2002). Management of the Older Person With Atrial Fibrillation. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 57: M352-363 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Anderson, K. P., Devereaux, P.J., Yusuf, S., Barbaro, G., Soldini, M., Giancaspro, G., Stratton, J. R., Klein, A. L., Murray, R. D., Grimm, R. A. (2001). Transesophageal Echocardiography to Guide Cardioversion in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation. NEJM 345: 837-839 [Full Text]