ATRIAL FIBRILLATION FOLLOW UP OF RHYTHM MANAGEMENT (AFFIRM)

杜克大学医学中心临床药理学和心脏病学部门的研究人员使用兰金临床研究单位研究房颤和其他常见心律失常患者。房颤是最常见的心律失常，需要抗心律失常药物治疗，占美国所有心律失常住院治疗的三分之一以上。房颤患者通常正常的心律被快速、不规则的心脏跳动所取代，这可能会导致胸部重击感、呼吸急促、胸痛、头晕或意识丧失。这些时期可能持续数分钟或数小时，或者除非医生给予急性治疗，否则可能无限期持续。AFFIRM是一项多中心、随机临床试验，旨在比较房颤（最常见的室上性心律失常）患者的2种管理策略。第一种策略是使用抗心律失常药物以减少房颤的发生频率;替代策略是在房颤发生时使用药物控制心率，但避免使用抗心律失常药物。招募工作将持续到1999年10月31日，之后将继续随访两年。AFFIRM由美国国立卫生研究院发起和赞助。

Investigators in the Divisions of Clinical Pharmacology and Cardiology at Duke University Medical Center have used the Rankin Clinical Research Unit to study patients with atrial fibrillation and other common disorders of the heart rhythm. Atrial fibrillation is the most common disorder of the heart rhythm requiring treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs, and it accounts for over one-third of all U.S. hospitalizations for arrhythmias. Patients with atrial fibrillation have their usually normal heart rhythm replaced by periods of rapid, irregular heart beating that may cause a sense of pounding in the chest, shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, or loss of consciousness. These periods may last for minutes or hours, or they may last indefinitely unless acute treatment is given by a physician. AFFIRM is a multi-center, randomized clinical trial designed to compare 2 strategies for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation, the most common supraventricular arrhythmia. The first strategy is to use antiarrhythmic drugs to reduce the frequency of occurrences of atrial fibrillation; the alternate strategy is to use drugs to control the heart rate when atrial fibrillation occurs but to avoid antiarrhythmic drugs. Recruitment will continue until October 31,1999 and follow-up will continue for another two years after that. AFFIRM was initiated and is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.