Northwestern University Atrial Fibrillation Center
At Northwestern, a $3.7 million grant funds research specifically on how atrial fibrillation develops and how it causes stroke, the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. The new knowledge base this network discovers is expected to provide a basis to generate more effective ways to treat and prevent atrial fibrillation.
For details, please visit the Northwestern AF Center Website: http://afcenter.northwestern.edu/
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting 33.5 million patients worldwide. The most serious complication is stroke, which is generally attributed to embolism of thrombus from the left atrium (LA). Stroke prevention by anticoagulation therapy is highly effective but is associated with significant risk of major bleeding. Therapy management must therefore balance the benefit of stroke reduction against the risk of bleeding complications. Currently, stroke risk estimation is based on the empirically derived clinical CHA2DS2-VASc score which has limited predictive accuracy. Our aim is to to develop a previously unattainable quantitative characterization of LA and LAA geometry, hemodynamics and blood biomarkers in AF patients based on comprehensive atrial MRI, including LA 4D flow MRI.
AF SFRN Center Vision and Synergy
The Northwestern AF Center is part of a wider AHA funded Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN). For details, see AHA awards more than $28 million for new atrial fibrillation research centers to improve patient outcomes
The multidisciplinary team of investigators in Northwestern’s SFRN Center on AF consists of experienced scientists working together, some for up to 20 years, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with this common rhythm disorder. Though our collective efforts have been impressive thus far, we recognize that many of our research contributions have been achieved while working in intellectual “silos”. As a result, we believe that the potential of the highly accomplished researchers at Northwestern has not yet been fully realized. This Center grant provides an invaluable opportunity to bring together the diverse and multidisciplinary expertise already present at Northwestern University, along with our new colleagues at Midwestern University, to work in a more interactive and synergistic effort. We come to this process with complementary research interests and expertise that will allow us to improve understanding of the atrial myopathy using different research methods and perspectives, and working together closely, we expect to achieve a major improvement in the underlying processes that lead to AF and AF-related brain insults.
Investigators: Michael Markl (PhD), Daniel Kim (PhD), Rod Passmann (MD), Philip Greenland (MD) Rishi Arora, (MD), Daniel C. Lee(MD), James Carr (MD), Liliana Ma, Suvai Gunasekaran
Funding: American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health