2011 ACCF/AHA/HRS Focused Updates Incorporated Into the ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 Guidelines for the Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

“The evidence showed rigid control did not seem to benefit patients. We don't need to be as compulsive about absolute numbers, particularly doing exercise tests and giving multiple drugs based solely on heart rate. Patients with symptoms due to rapid heart action need treatment, and the long term adverse effects of persistent tachycardia on ventricular function are still of concern.”

“We had considered dabigatran when the committee first started. We recognized early on that dabigatran would probably be approved, and we did include it. But we pulled it out at the last minute because as the press deadline came forward, the FDA had not yet approved it.”