Once screened, what will happen to me next

Once you've been screened and a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation has been made, then you will need to progress to the treatment stage. One of the most important aspects of treating atrial fibrillation and the main reason why we screen for atrial fibrillation is the potential risk of a stroke and the risk of a stroke that is associated with age fibrillation is a significant risk that needs to be addressed. The first thing that will happen is a healthcare professional will proceed to assess your risk based upon a number of factors. We use a scoring system for this, the most common of which is called the CHADS VAS2 scoring system and this incorporates aspects around your age, whether you have high blood pressure, whether you have diabetes, whether you have other heart related issues such as coronary artery disease, or whether you have an issue with the heart in the way that the heart functions. And once an assessment is made based upon your risk, then you will be offered a blood thinner. We tend to offer patients at a higher risk of having a stroke with a blood thinner. So that means not everybody with atrial fibrillation will need a blood thinner but a lot of the patients will indeed need blood thinning treatments. Once that initial assessment has been made further diagnostic tests may also need to be performed in order to assess whether there are additional issues with the heart. So one of the most common tests we would do is an echocardiogram which is an ultrasound scan of the heart which looks at the way in which the heart will contract. In addition, further monitoring may be required to assess if there are other types of heart rhythm disturbances. You may also be asked to have additional tests to work out if there are any issues with the blood supply to the heart muscle as a potential cause and a number of these tests are designed to look at some of the potential causes and factors that may be causing your atrial fibrillation which can also be addressed. you