The treatment of atrial fibrillation remains difficult and controversial. For many years, electrophysiologists have been trying to develop a safe, effective technique for eliminating atrial fibrillation the same way they can eliminate many other cardiac arrhythmias - by ablation. This article discusses the current status of their efforts at the ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Recent studies document that patients with diastolic heart failure - a form of heart failure with well-preserved heart muscle function, and so supposedly a more "benign" form of heart failure - actually is associated with a risk of mortality similar to the more "classic" form of heart failure. Patients who have been diagnosed with heart failure, and whose ejection fractions are still normal, had better take careful note - and make sure their doctors are taking their condition seriously. Read about diastolic heart failure and what it means here.

Women who want to prevent heart disease need to be concerned about a slightly different set of risk factors than men. Here is a quick and friendly quiz to help women focus on what they need to do to prevent heart disease.

For years it has been “common knowledge” that people who are under a lot of stress have an increased risk of heart disease. But is this common knowledge correct? And if so, what kind of stress increases the risk of heart disease, how does it increase risk, and what can be done about it?

Sorting out the effect of stress on the heart is made complicated by three factors: 1) people mean different things by “stress;” 2) the kind of stress people think causes heart disease may not be the worst kind; 3) until recently, there has been little scientific evidence that stress causes heart disease. However, in recent years new information has come to light to help us understand how stress can contribute to heart disease, and what we can do to counter the negative aspects of stress. Read about it here.