Clinicopathological Bird’s-Eye View of Left Atrial Myocardial Fibrosis in 121 Patients With Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

Atrial fibrosis is an evolving and inhomogeneous histological/architectural change that progresses through different stages ranging from isolated foci to confluent sclerotic zones which-seemingly-constrain impulse conduction across restricted regions of electrotonically coupled cardiomyocytes. The fibrotic areas mainly consist of type I collagen extracellular matrix and, only to a lesser extent, mesenchymal cells.