Novel Technologies to Improve Echocardiographic Estimates of Left Ventricular Filling Pressure in Heart Failure Combined With Atrial Fibrillation

Heart failure and atrial fibrillation are two of the most common heart diseases globally. Nearly half of all patients with heart failure also have atrial fibrillation. When heart failure and atrial fibrillation occur together, the risk of hospitalization and premature death increases significantly. However, there is a lack of reliable tools to assess how severely the heart is affected in these patients. This makes it difficult both to establish the correct diagnosis, tailor treatment, and predict who is at greatest risk of hospital admission or death from the disease. One of the most important targets in heart failure is the filling pressure in the left ventricle. When this pressure is high, it means that the heart has difficulty receiving blood, leading to shortness of breath and fluid retention in the body. Today, filling pressure is usually estimated using ultrasound (echocardiograph