Healthy Living magazine gathered together four prominent
physicians to discuss the symptoms of atrial fibrillation in
addition to options for treatment. The participants were Board
Certified Cardiothoracic Surgeon S.N. Mitruka, MD, and Board
Certified Cardiologists/ Electrophysiologists Leon Feldman, MD,
and Andrew Rubin, MD, Co-Directors of the Cardiac Arrhythmia
Program at Eisenhower Smilow Heart Center. Philip Shaver, MD, a
Board Certified Cardiologist, moderated the roundtable. DR.
SHAVER: Dr. Rubin, what is atrial fibrillation? DR. RUBIN:
Atrial fibrillation is one of many types of arrhythmias where
the electrical conduction of the heart is altered. It is a very
erratic, rapid, electrical impulse or impulses from the upper
chambers of the heart (the atria) which then transmits to the
lower chambers of the heart. The heartbeat becomes erratic, and
frequently, very rapid. DR. SHAVER: Dr. Feldman, who is at risk
for atrial fibrillation? DR. FELDMAN: Atrial fibrillation is an
exceptionally common heart rhyth