16 September 2025
Institute news
A new paper published in the European Heart Journal has important implications for the treatment of some people with atrial fibrillation (AF) with associated heart failure, and the results may surprise you.
More than half a million Australians have atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common heart arrhythmia, which can lead to stroke and heart failure.
The latest findings by researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute challenge current clinical practice and could pave the way for some people with AF with associated heart failure to come off their heart failure medication.
In a rigorous, randomised study called WITHDRAW-AF, researchers showed that in most of the 60 participants where heart failure therapy was withdrawn following recovery of AF-mediated cardiomyopathy (heart failure which is caused entirely by the AF), they exhibited stable heart function, challenging the paradigm of a blanket approach to heart failure therapy.
Researchers followed these patients for more than 12 months and now have data up to almost 18 months, and they found 90% of these people still maintained normal heart function without the need for these heart failure drugs.
The findings were also presented recently at the scientific meeting of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Senior Author, A/Prof Sandeep Prabhu says we had patients who were required by the guidelines to stay on heart failure medication indefinitely but we were often confronted in the clinic by some of our patients asking about whether they needed to be on heart failure mediation if their AF rhythm control had returned to normal and we didn’t have a good answer to that.
A/Prof Prabhu says he hopes these findings will reshape the approach to these patients with AF and deliver more personalised care.
🔉 Listen to the interview with A/Prof Sandeep Prabhu and Dr Norman Swan on the ABC Health Report
