Thrombaxane-B2 as a predictor marker of atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice, and its global health burden is progressively rising due to the aging of the world population, progressively higher prevalence of obesity, and improved attention to its early detection; AF is linked to increased risk of several complications, as well as death, stroke and peripheral embolism. In recent years many efforts have been made to fully understand the pathophysiology of AF and its complications. Several epidemiological studies have been conducted to early identification of AF, in order to pay more attention to AF risk factors, including arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), physical inactivity, and alcohol excess. While the traditional view attributes the primary cause of AF onset to myocardial remodelling (i.e. atrial dilatation, ventricular hypertrophy), cutting-edge research has increasingly highlighted a pivotal role for systemic and myocardial inflammation in the etiology of this arrhythmia. In this study we aimed to evaluate the clinical presentation and the inflammatory immunophenotype of individuals presenting with AF episode, evaluating several biomarkers, such as IFN-γ and thromboxane B2 (TXB₂), a potent vasoconstrictor and promoter of platelet aggregation.