Warfarin and AF

[Brad]

I remember being told that as I have a tissue valve, I would only be required to stay on warfarin for a short while after MVR. I have been told I have Atrial Fibruation (?) and am not sure what exactly this is (I never take in what people tell me as I just don't understand! ) but am told it "may correct itself" and then I can come off the warfarin. is this the same as Atrial Flutter? I have only been on warfarin since the beginning of last year so to stay on it a bit longer is really no skin off my nose. They are all so nice in my clinic anyway!

 

[Gemma]

Hi Brad,
Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter aren't exactly the same - fibrillation is often described as "irregularly irregular" in other words it's kind of random, whereas flutter is a regular but fast arrhythmia. Also atrial fibrillation can be quite slow I think, whereas flutter is generally 160+bpm. If you do a search either here in VR.com or on the whole net, you'll find loads of info about both. The reason you need to take warfarin with atrial fibrillation is that the atria and ventricles get out of sync and so blood can pool in the wrong places and cause clots. The warfarin stops these clots from forming.
Jim had atrial flutter a month after his AVR, and was give sotalol (a drug to slow his heart rate and control the arrhythmia) - when we asked his cardio about coming off it, he said it was worth a try and the flutter may come back, but I don't think he really knew for sure. Hasn't tried it yet but we've talked about it and I think as we get further away from the horrible experience in the hospital with his atrial flutter, he's thinking more about trying to cut the sotalol out. Jim's on lifelong warfarin anyway because of having a mechanical valve.
I get the impression from what I've read here that atrial fibrillation is quite a common occurrence in the first few months following valve replacement - and that in a lot of cases it does stop happening after a while.
Gemma.