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Biomedical subjects

F C Lin

Publications and source records attributed to F C Lin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Successful radiofrequency ablation of idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia at a site away from the tachycardia exit.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to assess the possibility of ablating verapamil-responsive idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia at a site distant from the tachycardia exit and thus to define the tachycardia circuit. BACKGROUND: The nature of the reentry circuit in idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia is unclear. If the circuit is of considerable size, then it should be possible to ablate the tachycardia at a site distant from the exit site. METHODS: Electrophysiologic studies and radiofrequency ablation were performed in 27 consecutive patients with verapamil-responsive idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia. In all 27 patients, the tachycardia exit site was defined as the site where the earliest Purkinje potential was recorded > or = 25 ms before the onset of the QRS complex during the tachycardia and where the pace map QRS complex resembled that during the tachycardia. A potential ablation site other than the exit site was then sought around the midseptum, proximal to the exit site. At such sites the tachycardia could be terminated transiently by pressure applied to the catheter tip, without induction of ventricular ectopic beats. RESULTS: The potential ablation site, other than the tachycardia exit site, was identified in seven male patients (mean [+/-SD] age 31 +/- 12 years, range 13 to 52). Application of the radiofrequency current at this site resulted in termination of the tachycardia within 1 to 5 s (mean 2.9 +/- 1.6), and successful ablation of the tachycardia was achieved in all seven patients (success rate 100%, 95% exact confidence interval 0.5898 to 1). The mean distance between the ablation site and the tachycardia exit site was 3.1 +/- 0.7 cm (range 2.0 to 4.0). A presystolic Purkinje spike was recorded 14 +/- 5 ms (range 8 to 20) before the onset of the QRS complex during the tachycardia. During the follow-up period of 24 +/- 11 months (range 12 to 39), there was no recurrence of tachycardia in these seven patients. CONCLUSIONS: Successful ablation of idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia can be achieved at sites away from the tachycardia exit site in some patients. This finding suggests that the reentry circuit is likely to be of considerable size, encompassing the middle, inferior and lower aspects of the left interventricular septum.

Action Potentials

Cardiac tamponade in Taiwan.

We retrospectively reviewed all of the patients who were treated for cardiac tamponade at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital between January 1991 and December 1995. There were a total of 112 patients (57 males, 55 females) with a mean age of 51 +/- 14 years (53 +/- 15, 49 +/- 13, respectively). Dyspnea was the most common complaint (85%). The mean blood pressure was 129 +/- 24/78 +/- 17 mmHg, and only 8% had a systolic blood pressure of less than 90 mmHg. Sinus tachycardia was the most frequent electrocardiographic finding (72%, 62/86). Diffuse low voltage was noted in 35% (30/86) of the patients and electrical alternans was seen in 17% (15/86). The mean volume of pericardial effusion was 610 +/- 263 ml. Sixty-five percent of the pericardial effusions were bloody, 31% were serosanguineous, 2% were purulent and 2% were chylous. Overall, 54.5% of the patients had malignant diseases. Of the 61 patients who died, 79% had malignancies. Thirty-five (57%) of these 48 patients had lung cancer. The mean survival time from emergent pericardiocentesis was 3.4 months. In conclusion, non-traumatic cardiac tamponade had a poor prognosis because most patients had malignant etiologies. There is still no definitive treatment for recurrent malignant pericardial effusion-induced cardiac tamponade. Percutaneous pericardiocentesis as clinically required may be the most appropriate treatment, since it is questionable whether such subjects should be subjected to the unnecessary pain and suffering associated with an operative procedure, considering their short mean survival time.

Adolescent

Regenerative changes in median nerve defects using various rabbit skeletal muscles.

We examined the morphological changes of median nerve regeneration which situated to pass through degenerative latissimus dorsi and brachial triceps muscles in rabbits. Morphological observation was performed at 7, 14, 28, 45, 60 and 180 days after the creation of defect of the bilateral median nerves. Regenerative nerve fibers were observed in the residual tubes of left degenerative muscle bridges. In this respect the regenerative effect of the latissimus dorsi was better than that of the brachial triceps. These results suggest that regular and longer muscle fibers as those of latissimus dorsi may contribute to the effective regeneration of nerve.

Animals

Comparison of clinical efficacy and adverse effects between extended-release felodipine and atenolol in patients with mild and moderate essential hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Essential hypertension is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Atenolol, a cardio-selective beta-blocker, has been shown to be a safe and effective antihypertensive agent. The extended-release form of felodipine (felodipine ER), a vascular-selective dihydropyridine calcium blocker, is extensively used in Caucasians. However, its effectiveness, tolerability and adverse side-effect have not been assessed in Chinese populations. METHODS: Sitting blood pressure (BP), heart rate, body weight, adverse reaction and serum biochemistry were assessed in 70 patients with mild-moderate essential hypertension treated either with felodipine ER (37 patients), or atenolol (33 patients) for 10 weeks. Each patient was prescribed 5 mg of felodipine ER or 50 mg of atenolol once daily and this daily dosage was doubled to twice daily if necessary. RESULTS: Six patients who received felodipine ER and 3 who received atenolol withdrew from the treatment because of intolerable side effects. Within ten weeks, 81.1% of the patients had responded to a total daily dosage of 5-10 mg of felodipine ER and 81.8% to a daily dose of 50-100 mg of atenolol. By the end of treatment, the mean BP in the felodipine ER group had decreased from 176/104 mmHg at baseline to 145/85 mmHg, while the BP in the atenolol group had dropped from 173/103 mmHg to 145/84 mmHg (NS between the two groups). Heart rate declined in the atenolol group but did not change in patients who received felodipine ER. Overall, patients in the felodipine ER group had a higher rate of adverse reaction (70.3% vs. 39.4%; p < 0.001), and 16.2% of the patients in the felodipine ER group experienced symptoms of hypotension. CONCLUSION: Equivalent doses of felodipine ER and atenolol are effective first-line monotherapeutic agents for the treatment of mild-moderate essential hypertension.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists

Radiofrequency ablation for supraventricular and ventricular tachycardia in young patients.

Radiofrequency ablation therapy was conducted in 86 consecutive children and young patients with a mean age of 14 +/- 3 years (range = 3-18). Fifty-two patients had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, one had re-entry tachycardia incorporating a nodoventricular fiber, 22 had atrioventricular node re-entry tachycardia, two had atrial tachycardia and nine had idiopathic ventricular tachycardia. Radiofrequency ablation was successful in 50 of the 52 patients (96%) with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and the one with nodoventricular fiber. Radiofrequency modification of the atrioventricular node using the inferior approach was successful in eliminating atrioventricular node re-entry tachycardia in 20 of the 22 patients (91%). Radiofrequency ablation in the two patients with atrial tachycardia was unsuccessful. Of the nine patients with idiopathic ventricular tachycardia, eight from the left ventricle and one from the right ventricular outflow tract, eight were successfully ablated (88%). Follow-up over a period ranging from 1 to 46 months (21 +/- 13) revealed a recurrence of tachycardia in seven patients; a late electrophysiological study in 38 patients revealed the induction of tachycardia in 11 patients (seven with accessory pathway-mediated tachycardia, three with atrioventricular node re-entry tachycardia and one with idiopathic ventricular tachycardia). All 11 patients were successfully ablated by a second trial. In conclusion, radiofrequency ablation therapy is effective and safe in pediatric patients with supraventricular and ventricular tachycardia and should be considered as the therapy of choice in this group of patients.

Adolescent

Left ventricular fibromuscular band is not a specific substrate for idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia.

BACKGROUND: A fibromuscular band has been detected in patients with idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia, and this band has been suggested to be the anatomic substrate for the arrhythmia. Whether the fibromuscular band is a specific substrate for the tachycardia was systematically evaluated in a large group of consecutive patients with and without idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia. METHODS AND RESULTS: Conventional transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography and multiplane transesophageal echocardiography were performed in 18 patients with idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia that was responsive to calcium blockers (group 1, tachycardia patients) and 40 patients with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (group 2, control patients). There were 17 men and 1 woman, with a mean age of 29 +/- 11 years, in group 1 patients, and 21 men and 19 women, with a mean age of 42 +/- 12 years, in group 2 patients. The QRS morphology during tachycardia in group 1 patients displayed a pattern of right bundle-branch block with superior axis in 15 patients, indeterminate axis in 2 patients, and inferior axis in 1 patient. Radiofrequency ablation successfully eliminated the tachycardia in all 18 patients; the successful ablation site was located at the inferior apical septum in 11 patients, at the midseptum in 6 patients, and at the anterior lateral wall in 1 patient. Transthoracic echocardiography detected the fibromuscular band in 11 of the 18 patients, whereas multiplane transesophageal echocardiography detected the band in 17 of 18 patients. The fibromuscular band extended from the interventricular septum to the apex of the left ventricle. In group 2 patients, transthoracic echocardiography detected the fibromuscular band in 22 and multiplane transesophageal echocardiography detected the band in 35 of the 40 patients. The presence of a fibromuscular band in these two groups of patients was not statistically different. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a left ventricular fibromuscular band is not a specific anatomic substrate for idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia.

Adult

Catheter-induced atrioventricular nodal block during radiofrequency ablation.

This study examined the incidence and significance of catheter-induced atrioventricular nodal block (AVNB) during a radiofrequency ablation procedure that uses stiff large-tip steerable ablation catheters. AVNB was noted in 10 (1.6%) of 613 consecutive patients undergoing radiofrequency ablation therapy for atrioventricular nodal (AVN) reentrant tachycardia (592 patients) or atrioventricular reentry tachycardia incorporating a midseptal accessory pathway (21 patients). Of these 10 patients, 9 underwent AVN modification for AVN reentrant tachycardia and 1 for ablation of a midseptal accessory pathway. One patient had two episodes of AVNB during two sessions undertaken because of recurrence of tachycardia. No patient had a preexisting conduction defect before the study. In all 10 patients, AVNB was transient, and it lasted for a mean of 9.1 +/- 19 minutes. It occurred during positioning of the ablation catheter in the junctional area before (8 patients) or after (2 patients) the start of radiofrequency current applications. Complete AVNB was noted on six occasions, second-degree AVNB on four occasions, and first-degree AVNB on one occasion. All blocks were associated with narrow QRS ventricular beats and with a site of block proximal to the His bundle. The mean ventricular heart rate during AVNB was 60 +/- 23 beats/min. Two patients had transient asystole, with one having loss of consciousness. No patient required special treatment for heart block. One-to-one conduction resumed after repositioning of the catheters, and the subsequent ablation procedure was successfully completed in 8 of the 10 patients. During a follow-up of 20 +/- 12 months, none of the patients had severe dizziness or syncope, and none required implantation of a permanent pacemaker. In conclusion, transient AVNB due to mechanical injury occurs during positioning of a stiff large-tip steerable ablation catheter in the junctional area. Delivery of radiofrequency current to the site that provokes catheter-induced AVNB should be avoided.

Adolescent

Radiofrequency ablation therapy of the posteroseptal accessory pathway.

Among 652 patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome who underwent radiofrequency ablation in this laboratory, 139 (21%) were found to have a total of 146 posteroseptal accessory pathways. Ablation was conducted by the regular transvenous or transaortic approach; ablation from cardiac venous structures was used only if regular approaches were unsuccessful. Of the 146 posteroseptal accessory pathways, 94 were successfully ablated from the left posteroseptal region and 45 from the right posteroseptal region. In 3, successful ablation of the accessory pathway required delivery of the current to the proximal coronary sinus, and in 1 it required delivery of the current to both the atrial and ventricular aspects of the tricuspid valve at the right posteroseptum. Thus, the accessory pathway was successfully ablated in 143 (98%) of 146 instances or in 136 (98%) patients. In 3 patients, ablation was unsuccessful despite delivery of current to the left posteroseptum, the right posteroseptum, the proximal coronary sinus, and the middle cardiac vein. Seventy-seven (57%) patients with an initial success, including 9 patients with resumed preexcitation or recurrence of paipitations, underwent a follow-up electro-physiologic study 90 +/- 72 days after ablation. Of these 9 patients, the initial successful ablation site was the right posteroseptum in 7 and the left posteroseptum in 2. The accessory pathways were ablated successfully by subsequent trials in 8 patients, whereas in 1 the accessory pathway was severely damaged. Thus radiofrequency ablation of posteroseptal accessory pathways can be achieved by the regular transvenous or transaortic approach; delivery of current to the coronary sinus or middle cardiac vein is unnecessary in most patients.

Adult

Video-assisted cardiac surgery in closure of atrial septal defect.

BACKGROUND: Video-assisted endoscopy has been applied in the management of a variety of intrathoracic vascular lesions. Here we report its use in the correction of intracardiac congenital defects. METHODS: Eight patients (3 male and 5 female) underwent operation for closure of an atrial septal defect. The patients ranged in age from 2.0 to 60.9 years (mean, 19.2 +/- 19.0 years). The patients weighed 11 to 66 kg (mean, 41.3 +/- 23.5 kg). The ratio of pulmonary blood flow to systemic blood flow ranged from 2.0 to 6.0 (mean, 3.4 +/- 1.3). The mean pulmonary artery pressure was 19.7 +/- 4.0 mm Hg (range, 13 to 24 mm Hg). The operations were performed through a right anterior minithoracotomy and guided by video-assisted endoscopic techniques under femorofemoral or femoral-right atrial extracorporeal circulation. The aorta was not cross-clamped, and the myocardium was protected by continuous coronary perfusion with hypothermic fibrillatory arrest (rectal temperature, 22.0 degrees +/- 2.0 degrees C). Transesophageal echocardiographic monitoring was maintained during the operations. The right atrium was entered after pericardiotomy. Primary closure of the defect was performed successfully in all patients. Conventional nondisposable instruments were used for dissection, grasping, suturing, and hemostasis. RESULTS: The durations of extracorporeal circulation and operation ranged from 47 to 126 minutes (mean, 80 +/- 31 minutes) and from 2.2 to 4.5 hours (mean, 3.1 +/- 0.8), respectively. All patients recovered from the operation rapidly with an uneventful postoperative course. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience demonstrates that video-assisted cardiac surgery is technically feasible and can be used with excellent results for the repair of congenital heart defects in general.

Adolescent

Pulmonary pseudosequestration receiving arterial supply from a coronary artery fistula. A case report.

A forty-eight-year-old man with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis and scarring of both hila and upper lobes was noted to have bilateral pulmonary pseudosequestration, in which the blood supply originated from a coronary artery fistulous vessel arising from the left circumflex artery and draining into the pulmonary artery. This is the first reported patient with the source of blood supply to the pulmonary pseudosequestration arising from a coronary artery fistula.

Bronchopulmonary Sequestration

Video-assisted cardiac surgery. Preliminary experience in reoperative mitral valve surgery.

OBJECTIVES: Video-assisted endoscopic techniques had been applied in the surgical correction of patent ductus arteriosus, vascular ring, or coronary artery disease. However, it has been used only recently in the correction of reoperative mitral valve lesions. DESIGN: Video-assisted cardiac operations were performed on four patients who had received surgical interventions on their mitral valves and needed emergent reoperation. PATIENTS: Four patients (3 men and 1 woman) received emergency surgery from September to December 1995 for thrombosis of mechanical mitral prosthesis (2 patients) and severe mitral regurgitation with previously failed mitral valve repair (2 patients). Six previous operations had been performed on these mitral valves. Patient ages ranged from 26.7 to 68.1 years (mean, 47.3 years). Preoperatively, acute pulmonary edema occurred in two patients, cerebral emboli occurred in one patient, and sepsis was found in one patient. Mechanical ventilatory support was used in two patients before operation. INTERVENTION: The operations were performed through right anterior minithoracotomy, guided by video-assisted endoscopic techniques with femoro-femoral extracorporeal circulation. The operative procedures were thrombectomy of mitral prosthesis in two patients, mitral valve repair in one patient, and mitral valve replacement in one patient. RESULTS: The duration of extracorporeal circulation was 166 to 320 min (222 +/- 67 min) and the operation time was 4.6 to 6.8 h (6.1 +/- 1.0 h). All patients recovered from the operations rapidly with uneventful postoperative courses except 1 patient who had sepsis preoperatively and died 2 months later. CONCLUSION: Our experience demonstrates that video-assisted cardiac surgery is technically feasible and could be performed in reoperation of the mitral valve.

Adult

Hypoxemia in a cirrhotic patient caused by hepatopulmonary syndrome: a case report.

Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is the triad of liver disease, pulmonary vascular dilatation, and abnormal arterial oxygenation. We report a case with progressive orthodeoxia and platypnea who was proven to have HPS after serial investigations, including autopsy. This 61-year-old male is a case of alcoholic liver cirrhosis without any documented cardiopulmonary disorders before. However, he suffered from progressive dyspnea in his last one-year life. During that period, progressive severe hypoxemia, orthodeoxia and platypnea were detected. Serial non-invasive diagnostic approaches, including two-dimensional contrast enhanced echocardiography and technetium-99m labeled macroaggregated albumin (MAA) lung perfusion scanning, were performed and showed positive evidence of intrapulmonary shunting. Direct evidence of intrapulmonary vascular dilatation was finally proven by autopsy. Although this syndrome is not rare, clinical awareness of the association between liver disease and arterial oxygen desaturation is still inadequate. We report a case proved by typical clinical manifestation and complete investigation and review the literature to emphasize this important disorder.

Cyanosis

Retrograde atrio-His bundle dissociation as a sign indicative of retrograde accessory pathway conduction.

Electrophysiologic study and radiofrequency ablation therapy were performed in a 36-year-old male with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and Ebstein's anomaly. The study disclosed the presence of a posteroseptal accessory pathway and dual atrioventricular (AV) nodal pathways. Retrograde atrio-His bundle (A-H) dissociation was noted during rapid ventricular pacing, in which the atria were activated by retrograde impulse from the accessory pathway with a fixed ventriculo-atrial (VA) interval while the retrograde His bundle potential was visible during the diastolic isoelectric period due to the occurrence of Wenckebach periodicity within the His-Purkinje system. This phenomenon is a useful sign for rapid recognition of the accessory pathway conduction.

Adult

The role of Saccharomyces cerevisiae type 2A phosphatase in the actin cytoskeleton and in entry into mitosis.

We have prepared a temperature-sensitive Saccharomyces cerevisiae type 2A phosphatase (PP2A) mutant, pph21-102. At the restrictive temperature, the pph21-102 cells arrested predominantly with small or aberrant buds, and their actin cytoskeleton and chitin deposition were abnormal. The involvement of PP2A in bud growth may be due to the role of PP2A in actin distribution during the cell cycle. Moreover, after a shift to the non-permissive temperature, the pph21-102 cells were blocked in G2 and had low activity of Clb2-Cdc28 kinase. Expression of Clb2 from the S.cerevisiae ADH promoter in pph21-102 cells was able to partially bypass the G2 arrest in the first cell cycle, but was not able to stimulate passage through a second mitosis. These cells had higher total amounts of Clb2-Cdc28 kinase activity, but the Clb2-normalized specific activity was lower in the pph21-102 cells compared with wild-type cells. Unlike wild-type strains, a PP2A-deficient strain was sensitive to the loss of MIH1, which is a homolog of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe mitotic inducer cdc25+. Furthermore, the cdc28F19 mutation cured the synthetic defects of a PP2A-deficient strain containing a deletion of MIH1. These results suggest that PP2A is required during G2 for the activation of Clb-Cdc28 kinase complexes for progression into mitosis.

Actins

Multiplane transesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis of congenital coronary artery fistula.

The purpose of this study was to examine the advantages of multiplane transesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis of congenital coronary artery fistula, specifically in depicting the origin, the course, and the drainage site. Seven consecutive patients ranging in age from 20 to 72 years with a suspected coronary artery fistula underwent conventional transthoracic and multiplane transesophageal echocardiographic studies between March 1993 and July 1994. When a coronary artery fistula was noted, the origin, the course, and the drainage site were carefully searched for. All patients then underwent a cardiac catheterization with the performance of coronary angiography. A large right coronary artery fistula was detected in three patients; one of them had a drainage to the posterior left ventricle, one to the lateral right ventricle, and the other to the medial aspect of the right ventricle just below the insertion of the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve. A small coronary artery fistula arising from the left coronary artery was noted in four patients, two from the left anterior descending artery and the other two from the left circumflex artery. Three of these four patients had a drainage to the main pulmonary artery and one to the left ventricle. The drainage site was clearly depicted in all seven patients, whereas the origin and the course were precisely defined in five patients by using multiplane transesophageal echocardiographic examination. The multiplane transesophageal echocardiography provides a panoramic view of the coronary artery and the fistulous vessel with a precise definition of the origin, the course, and the drainage site of the fistula. Therefore it is the noninvasive diagnostic mode of choice.

Adult

Progression to complete atrioventricular block in a patient with bundle branch re-entry tachycardia.

A 38-year-old man with no significant structural heart disease suffered from one episode of wide QRS tachycardia. The electrocardiogram showed a PR interval of 0.20 second and a QRS duration of 0.10 second. His bundle recording revealed an HV interval of 90-100 ms. The tachycardia was inducible with programmed stimulation and displayed a QRS morphology of complete left bundle branch block. It was characterized by an atrioventricular dissociation, a cycle length of 280 ms, and an H deflection preceding each QRS complex. Pacing from the right ventricular apex at a cycle length of 270 ms entrained the tachycardia, while at a cycle length of 260 ms, the tachycardia was terminated. Four years later, the patient presented with complete atrioventricular block with a wide QRS escape rhythm. An electrophysiologic study conducted while he was in 1:1 atrioventricular conduction showed an HV interval of 100 ms. Second-degree infrahisian block developed at an atrial paced cycle length of 700 ms. There was no induction of tachycardia with programmed stimulation before or after isoproterenol. The patient was treated with an implantation of a permanent pacemaker.

Adult

Diagnosis of coronary artery dissection following blunt chest trauma by transesophageal echocardiography.

How to differentiate relevant from trivial cardiac injury in blunt chest trauma has been an ongoing debate. In a 32-year-old victim of a motorcycle crash, the electrocardiographic pattern of an acute anterior wall myocardial infarction was identified as being due to a dissection, after an intimal flap in the proximal left anterior descending artery was noted on transesophageal echocardiography.

Adult

Radiofrequency ablation therapy in concealed left free wall accessory pathway with decremental conduction.

An electrophysiologic study followed by transcatheter radiofrequency ablation therapy was performed in two adult patients with a permanent form of junctional tachycardia. Both patients had no structural heart disease and exhibited a normal resting ECG. The P wave during tachycardia was negative in leads 1, 3, and aVF, biphasic over V6, and positive in V1 and aVL in both patients, while the P-R/R-P interval ratio during tachycardia was 0.82 and 0.36, respectively, in both patients. Both patients displayed an eccentric atrial activation sequence with the earliest atrial activation occurring at the distal coronary sinus and a decremental retrograde conduction property during incremental ventricular pacing, suggesting the presence of a concealed slowly conducting left free wall accessory pathway. The tachycardia used the normal atrioventricular pathway for anterograde conduction and the concealed show left accessory pathway for retrograde conduction. It was terminated following adenosine administration in both patients; termination of tachycardia was due to a block in the retrograde accessory pathway in one patient and due to a block in the atrioventricular node in the other patient. Radiofrequency ablation was performed by the retrograde transaortic approach. The radiofrequency f4p4ent was delivered to the site of the earliest atrial activation during tachycardia at the ventricular aspect of the mitral annulus. The successful ablation site had a ventriculoatrial (VA) interval of 120 and 130 ms, respectively, and was located at the posterolateral and lateral aspects of the mitral annulus. Following ablation, there was no VA conduction; however, conduction through the normal atrioventricular pathway was noted during isoproterenol infusion in both patients. There was no induction of tachycardia. This study demonstrates that the permanent form of junctional tachycardia in adults can incorporate a concealed left free wall accessory pathway with a decremental property. Radiofrequency ablation therapy is effective and safe in this form of arrhythmia.

Adult