AF Rhythm Control Decision Aid

Welcome to theAtrial Fibrillation Rhythm Control Decision Aid

This aid does not collect any personal information from you, and is intended only as an aid to decision making, rather than persuade you towards a particular option.

About Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular and often fast heart beat. It may come and go. It may cause symptoms, but some patients do not have any symptoms.

Watch a two-minute video about AF from the American Heart Association.

Treatment Options

Treating AF is important to reduce the risk of a blood clot in the brain (a stroke), the risk of needing to go to the hospital, and to improve your overall quality of life.

Here are two of the most common options for treating your heart rhythm:

Ablation

Medications

These are not the only options. You can ask your care team about all of the possible treatment options that might be right for you.

You may need to take other steps to prevent a stroke, such as taking medication specifically designed to prevent blood clots (anticoagulants). There are other decision aids to help with this.

About this Decision Aid

Created By

AF Rhythm Control Decision Aid

This product was built by a team at Columbia University Irving Medical Center to aid in the decision making process when it comes to AF and weighing the diffferences between treatment options. The clinical guidelines recommend that patients and care teams weigh the risks and benefits of each option before deciding on one.

The goal of this decision aid is to present unbiased information about both options, not to persuade you towards one option over another. So as you are reviewing the information, ask yourself what is most important to you.

Some examples are shown below.

Avoiding having a procedure

Preventing AF from coming back

Improving my quality of life, or “getting my life back”

Avoiding taking medications over the long term

I strongly encourage patients and caregivers to use a decision aid because it presents the underlying evidence for patients and families to review so that they can make a healthcare choice that is most aligned with their healthcare values.

David Slotwiner, MD, FACS, FHRS, Chief of Cardiology at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Queens

Published August 9, 2023.

This decision aid will be updated every 5 years or when significant changes to the evidence emerge (e.g., publication of new clinical trials).

This study was funding by a research grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH; R00NR019124).