| Summary: | Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in the adult general
population. As populations age, the global burden of AF is expected to rise. AF
is associated with stroke and thromboembolic complications, which contribute to
significant morbidity and mortality. As a result, it remains paramount to
identify patients at elevated risk of thromboembolism and to determine who will
benefit from thromboembolic prophylaxis. Conventional practice advocates the use
of clinical risk scoring criteria to identify patients at risk of thromboembolic
complications. These risk scores have modest discriminatory ability in many
sub-populations of patients with AF, highlighting the need for improved risk
stratification tools. New insights have been gained on the utility of biomarkers
and imaging modalities, and there is emerging data on the importance of the
identification and treatment of subclinical AF. Finally, the advent of wearable
devices to detect cardiac arrhythmias pose a new and evolving challenge in the
practice of cardiology. This review aims to address strategies to enhance
thromboembolic risk stratification and identify challenges with current and
future practice.
|
|---|
