What’s new in the 2016 ESC Guidelines on atrial fibrillation?

On 27 August 2016, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation (AF) were presented and published in the current issue of the European Heart Journal. Extensive new evidence underpinning the major components of AF management required a complete re-write of the existing guidelines, including concomitant cardiovascular conditions, anticoagulation, rate control, and rhythm control ( Figure 1 ). Written in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), and endorsed by the European Stroke Organisation (ESO), here we highlight some of the new aspects of the 2016 guidelines.

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These new guidelines reflect the increasing need to integrate and coordinate care of AF patients, reflected by the multidisciplinary input into the task force that included expert cardiologists and electrophysiologists, stroke neurologists, AF nurses, and...