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了房颤和其他常见心律紊乱的患者。房颤是最常见的心律失常，需要抗心律失常药物治疗，占美国因心律失常住院治疗的三分之一以上。房颤患者通常的正常心律会被快速、不规则的心跳周期所取代，这可能会导致胸部剧烈跳动、呼吸急促、胸痛、头晕或意识丧失。这些时期可能持续几分钟或几个小时，也可能无限期持续，除非医生进行急性治疗。FIRIMM是一项多中心随机临床试验，旨在比较房颤患者的两种管理策略。房颤是最常见的室上性心律失常。第一种策略是使用抗心律失常药物来减少房颤的发生频率；另一种策略是在发生房颤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，此后的两年内将继续跟进。该项目由美国国立卫生研究院发起并赞助。

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.