{"id":21266,"date":"2026-01-14T00:24:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/docs\/atrial-fibrillation-definition-and-mechanism\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T01:58:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:58:22","password":"","slug":"atrial-fibrillation-definition-and-mechanism","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/docs\/atrial-fibrillation-definition-and-mechanism\/","title":{"rendered":"Atrial Fibrillation &#8211; Definition and Mechanism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"definition\">Definition<\/h2>\n\n<p>Atrial fibrillation is a supraventricular arrhythmia characterized by disorganized atrial electrical activity leading to ineffective atrial contraction.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"mechanism\">Mechanism<\/h2>\n\n<p>The arrhythmia is caused by multiple re-entry circuits within the atria, resulting in irregular atrial depolarization and an irregular ventricular response.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-features\">Key features<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Absence of P waves<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Irregularly irregular RR intervals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Variable ventricular rate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"clinical-significance\">Clinical significance<\/h2>\n\n<p>Atrial fibrillation significantly increases the risk of thromboembolism, particularly ischemic stroke.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"diagnosis\">Diagnosis<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Electrocardiogram (ECG)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Irregular RR intervals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No distinct P waves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"management\">Management principles<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rate control<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rhythm control<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anticoagulation based on stroke risk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"exam-pearls\">Exam pearls<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>AF = increased stroke risk<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Irregularly irregular rhythm<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anticoagulation decisions depend on risk stratification<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition Atrial fibrillation is a supraventricular arrhythmia characterized by disorganized atrial electrical activity leading to ineffective atrial contraction. Mechanism The arrhythmia is caused by multiple re-entry circuits within the atria, resulting in irregular atrial depolarization and an irregular ventricular response. &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[187],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-21266","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-arrhythmias"],"featured_image_src":"","ams_acf":[],"year_month":"2026-04","word_count":102,"total_views":0,"reactions":{"happy":0,"normal":0,"sad":0},"author_info":{"name":"MedMigrant","author_nicename":"tabaka95","author_url":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/author\/tabaka95\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Arrhythmias","term_url":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/docs-category\/arrhythmias\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/21266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/21266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21267,"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/21266\/revisions\/21267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=21266"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medmigrant.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=21266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}