Atrial Fibrillation

Sometimes the heart's electrical signals can lose their regular pattern. With atrial fibrillation, many parts of the atria, the heart's two upper chambers, start emitting uncoordinated electrical signals. The electrical impulses cause irregular, erratic and unusually fast heartbeats. An estimated 2 million Americans are living with atrial fibrillation, making it the most common serious heart rhythm abnormality.

Our Approach to Atrial Fibrillation

Over the past decades, UCSF has helped pioneer breakthroughs in the understanding and treatment of arrhythmias, or heart rhythm disorders, such as atrial fibrillation. We offer comprehensive evaluations to pinpoint the source of the arrhythmia, as well as the most innovative treatments available to restore the heart's normal rhythm. Our team includes electrophysiologists – cardiologists who subspecialize in heart rhythm disorders – as well as expert nurses and technicians. We are highly experienced in treating arrhythmias of all kinds, performing more than 1,200 procedures every year.

While providing specialized, tailored care is our primary focus, we are also dedicated to finding new treatments through research. Patients who choose to participate in clinical trials may have access to experimental therapies, devices or medications that might work better for them than the established options.