The Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) has released new guidelines to help reduce rates of stroke and hospitalization of patients with atrial fibrillation. The Canadian Cardiovascular Society Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines 2010 will help Canadian physicians bet­ter recognize and treat atrial fibrillation, which affects 250 000 Canadians. 

Published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, the guidelines contain many new recommendations, including:

• “Pill-in-pocket” therapy for patients with infrequent and longer-lasting atrial fibrillation. This would replace daily anti-arrhythmic therapy with a single drug dose.

• The goal of rhythm control therapy should be to improve patient symptoms and to improve quality of life, not to eliminate atrial fibrillation.

The CCS has also developed tools to help integrate these guidelines into clinical practice. These include an “app” (smart phone application) and a pocket card for physicians, to be available this spring.

The CCS Atrial Fibrillation Guide­lines 2010 are available at www.ccsguidelineprograms.ca [8].