title: Occam's razor and the unraveling of atrial fibrillation.
abstract: The search for a mechanism to explain atrial fibrillation (AF) has lasted for over a century and continues. Significant progress in understanding this arrhythmia accelerated with the era of operative treatment of this arrhythmia and intensified with the advent of catheter ablation. Through considerable trial and some error, effective "curative" therapies have evolved for paroxysmal AF and are evolving for persistent AF. It is becoming clear that no single mechanism suffices to explain AF in all its forms and multiple mechanisms are playing a role in the most complicated cases.
authors.affiliation: Hôpital Cardiologique du Haut Lévêque, Bordeaux, Pessac, France. gklein@uwo.ca
authors.forename: George J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: Mélèze
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hocini
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jaïs
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haïssaguerre
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clementy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D014927:Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome / Q000601:surgery