Martino A, Pezzi L, Magnano R, Salustri E, Penco M, Calo’ L. Omega 3 and atrial fibrillation: Where are we? World J Cardiol 2016; 8(2): 114-119 [PMID: 26981208 DOI: 10.4330/wjc.v8.i2.114]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Leonardo Calo’, MD, FESC, Division of Cardiology, Policlinico Casilino, ASL Rome B, 00169 Rome, Italy. leonardo.calo@tin.it
Research Domain of This Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Annamaria Martino, Department of Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Nephrologic and Geriatrics Sciences, Umberto I Hospital, Sapienza University, 00100 Rome, Italy
Laura Pezzi, Roberta Magnano, Elisa Salustri, Maria Penco, Department of Cardiology, University of l’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Author contributions: Martino A and Calo’ L designed the research; Pezzi L, Magnano R and Salustri E performed the research; Martino A, Pezzi L, Magnano R and Salustri E analyzed the data; Martino A, Pezzi L, Magnano R, Salustri E, Penco M and Calo’ L wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Leonardo Calo’, MD, FESC, Division of Cardiology, Policlinico Casilino, ASL Rome B, 00169 Rome, Italy. leonardo.calo@tin.it
Telephone: +39-06-23188416 Fax: +39-06-23188410
Received: June 3, 2015 Peer-review started: June 3, 2015 First decision: September 26, 2015 Revised: November 24, 2015 Accepted: December 29, 2015 Article in press: January 4, 2016 Published online: February 26, 2016 Processing time: 268 Days and 5.3 Hours
Abstract
Anti-arrhythmic properties of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, at least in part mediated by anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic power, have been widely proved. Effect of fish oil on atrial fibrillation, both in primary and in secondary prevention and after cardiac surgery, are controversial, mostly due to lack of homogeneity between studies but also due to individual variability in response to fatty acids administration. Inclusion of measurement of incorporation of fish oil into cell membranes, appears to be essential in future studies, to assess their antiarrhythmic effect.
Core tip: Individual variability in response to fish oil administration, in terms of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids in corporation into cell membranes, is responsible for controversial results of n-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids administration in patients suffering atrial fibrillation.
