What is atrial fibrillation?

Atrial fibrillation is also known as AF or A Fib and is the most common heart rhythm disorder in the world. The heart beats regularly, like a clock, speeding up and slowing down based on your activity levels. Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart beat is controlled from a different area of the heart that makes it beat irregularly and much faster. This is why doctors and nurses may feel the pulse in your wrist to check for atrial fibrillation as you can sometimes feel the irregularity and speed of the heartbeat.

‘Atrial’ refers to the top chambers of the heart (the atria) where the abnormal rhythm originates from and ‘fibrillation’ describes the fast, vibration-like movement of the atria that occurs during atrial fibrillation. The fast, irregular heart rate caused by atrial fibrillation is what makes people feel unwell and the ‘fibrillating’ atria is responsible for the increase in stroke risk.

In the video below, the Chief Investigator of our clinical trials and Consultant Cardiologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, Professor Richard Schilling talks about these consequences and the aims of treatment.