Template:Featured Article/2007-06-26

THE TERM "LONE AF"
The term “lone AF” has been variously defined but generally applies to young individuals (under 60 years of age) without clinical or echocardiographic evidence of cardiopulmonary disease (10). These patients have a favorable prognosis with respect to thromboembolism and mortality. As time goes by, however, patients move out of the lone AF category by virtue of aging or the development of cardiac abnormalities such as enlargement of the left atrium (LA), and the risks of thromboembolism and mortality rise accordingly. Lone AF is distinguished from other forms of idiopathic AF because of the criteria of patient age.

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