Itamar Medical, Study on Role of OSA in AFib Makes Top Cardio Journal’s 2018 Most Important Article List

Selection as one of the most prominent and important articles of 2018 reflects significant contribution to advancing cardiovascular health

Itamar Medical Ltd. today announced that an article previously published in Circulation¹ has been selected for inclusion in the journal’s 2018 Year in Review. This review, which appears in the February 2019 issue of Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, comprises the most important and prominent articles of 2018, as determined by the journal’s editors.

The article, titled “Atrial Substrate and Triggers of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea,” by Dr. Elad Anter, was the first to demonstrate that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with structural and functional remodeling of the atria. The study also showed that the presence of additional extra-PV triggers was significantly greater in patients with OSA, and most importantly, ablation of those extra non PV triggers during the procedure resulted in better outcome measured as freedom from Atrial Fibrillation 12 months after ablation supporting the strategy of screening newly diagnosed AF patients for OSA.

“The high prevalence of OSA in patients with AF, estimated at 49%, coupled with the increased incidence of non-pulmonary vein triggers underscores the need for conducting sleep studies in all AF patients as part of designing an ablation strategy,” said Gilad Glick, President and CEO of Itamar Medical. “The inclusion of this article in the 2018 Year in Review issue of one of the most prominent cardiology journals reflects the importance of these findings for effectively managing AF patients and reducing the risk for recurrence post ablations. Itamar Medical’s WatchPAT™ device, that was used in this study, an innovative solution for the cardiology practice, enables sleep studies to be conducted effectively and cost-efficiently in the patient’s home, thereby eliminating key barriers to sleep testing that occur when patients must stay overnight in the sleep lab. There is growing appreciation within the cardiology community of the role that WatchPAT can play in effectively diagnosing OSA and enabling appropriate interventions that can improve management of AF.” 

The study, which was first published in the November 13, 2017 issue of Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, was conducted by clinical researchers from the Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, Harvard-Thorndike Electrophysiology Institute; and Sleep Disorders Clinic, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School; Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St. David’s Medical Center; and Electrophysiology Section, Cardiovascular Division, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Reference

¹ Anter E, Di Biase L, Contreras-Valdes MF, Gianni C, Mohanty S, Tschabrunn CM, et al. Atrial Substrate and Triggers of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2017;10:e005407.