Atrial remodeling in varying clinical substrates within beating human hearts: Relevance to atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in human beating hearts. AF initiates self-perpetuating changes in electrophysiology, structure and functional properties of the atria, a phenomenon known as atrial remodeling. Hypertension, heart failure, valvular heart disease, sleep apnea, congenital heart disease are well known risk factors for AF that contribute to the development of atrial substrate. There is some evidence that reversal of atrial remodeling is possible with correction of antecedent conditions, however the timing of the intervention or upstream therapy may be critical. This review will describe the pathophysiology of atrial remodeling as it pertains to AF. We will describe components of remodeling including changes in atrial refractoriness, conduction and atrial structure, in addition to autonomic changes and anatomic factors that predispose to remodeling. We will discuss our current understanding of the electrophysiological changes that contribute to AF persistence. We will describe nature of atrial and pulmonary vein remodeling in the context of different forms of AF, with and without predisposing risk factors. We will describe the nature of remodeling over time following therapeutic interventions such as AF ablation in order to show that it does not necessarily improve and may worsen.