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Annotated abstract

Rethinking natriuretic peptides: hypoxia and haemoconcentration in atrial fibrillation

heartjnl · 2026-02-12 · canonical JSON source

2 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common supraventricular arrhythmia, with a current global prevalence of 60 million cases. It poses a significant economic burden and is strongly linked to increased all-cause mortality. Mechanical production of thrombi by local laminar and turbulent flows in the left atrial appendage (LAA), possibly feeding clots into the cerebral circulation, is generally considered to be the leading cause of ischaemic stroke. As the LAA is a blind-ended passage with a long and narrow inlet, blood stasis may occur during AF when flow velocity is significantly reduced and the contractility of LAA is concomitantly disturbed. Circulating endocrinological markers of AF, although less studied, have been investigated for the diagnosis and follow-up of the disease. Among them, natriuretic peptides in plasma have been shown to be closely associated with AF; however, their role remains unclear.