Both chronic atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter cause significant and similar electrical remodeling in the human right atrium, suggesting early termination of these arrhythmias may be prudent to prevent such changes.
AF and atrial flutter lead to marked, quantitatively similar decreases in the right atrial APD during steady state pacing and extrastimulation a considerable time after cardioversion. These data confirm that both AF and atrial flutter lead to electrical remodeling in the human atrium, with a preponderance at longer cycle lengths. It may be prudent to abort both types of arrhythmias early to prevent electrical remodeling.
Franz et al. (1997) studied this question.