There is a great deal of reading that will help you to make an informed decision about treatment for AF. I can only show you the tip of the iceberg; one reference will lead to many more.
Introductory material
Bulletin boards These two boards are excellent sources of up-to-date information. They include personal experiences of all kinds of self-help as well with professional treatments. There are also opinions on various doctors, and reports of research or links to articles or other reading materials. And, if you have a question, you can ask the group, some of whom are quite expert. In many cases, you can directly email a person whose opinion you value.
The Medifocus Guidebook on Atrial Fibrillation provides an introduction to the subject and links to current research that are updated each year. Accessing these articles in the downloaded version is as simple as clicking a link.
Another useful resource is Han Larsen's series Lone Atrial Fibrillation: Towards a Cure , Volumes I-III. These books contains research reports and commentary on all aspects of AF.
Hans has also written a book and an article that are the best compilation of information about what to do about the stroke risk that accompanies AF for sophisticated lay people. The first offers alternatives to Coumadin (warfarin); the second, descibes ways to deal with its negative effects if you have to take it: They are: Thrombosis and Stroke Prevention" and "Living with Warfarin" in the September 2006 issue of the AFIB Report.
Material on AF will quickly be out-of-date. This is especially true of books. For hints on how to keep up-to-date, see Keeping Up below.
Journal articles Here are a few general journal articles. Parts of all of them may soon be out-of-date; there can be a time lag of several months from submission to publication, and even longer from research to publication. More current information is presented at conventions, some of which may appear on the internet or in one of the bulletin boards.
Keeping up with developments in the rapidly changing field of treatment for AF is a challenge, especially for physicians and non-physicians alike: physicians because they are so busy and lay people because we do not have easy access to all sources of information, including subscriptions to expensive journals and attendance at conferences where the newest techniques are presented or demonstrated and physicians exchange anecdotal evidence or report on research before it shows up in journals.
A few ways to make sure that you are aware of the latest techniques in the field follow below. Keep in mind that the newest ones will have the shortest track records; the process make look good and may turn out to be an improvement, but one cannot know for sure until large-scale outcome studies are done -- on patients with your type of AF.
1) Ask the doctors or their assistants about what is new in the field when you question them in your search someone to treat you AF (see Questions to email doctors ...)
2) Visit the a-fib.com site, and check out the reports of the Boston Symposia that are listed near the bottom of the left side-bar menu. This conference draws well-known cardiologists as presenters, and has them focus on new developments in various areas of treatment for AF. The site has a wealth of other material useful to person with AF, including a section on questions to ask EPs.
3) The monthly AFIB Report is available by subscription on the afibbers site . It is the best way I know of for lay people to keep up with developments that can affect their choice of treatment. It costs $34.95 USD for a subscription.
4) The Medifocus Guidebook on Atrial Fibrillation, as noted above is updated each year.
5) The above-mentioned journal BBs will contain references that members have found useful The most recent journal articles can also be googled by subject and date, but you may have to look over several references to the same article before you find a report on the article that doesn't require a subscription.
6) There have been several documents containing guidelines for the treatment of AF. You can probably find one or more of these "consensus statements" published each year by various task forces. Here is one that appeared in May 2007:
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