DETection of Atrial Fibrillation in patients with mildmoderate cognitive Impairment and role of the atrial strain DETAF study

The major challenge of this project is to develop new diagnostic strategies for the detection of atrial fibrillation in a population of patients at high arrhythmic risk and with clinical manifestations of cognitive decline with probable cardiovascular etiologyIn fact atrial fibrillation still represents the leading sustained arrhythmia worldwide and mild cognitive impairment whose incidence is constantly increasing is a major cause of disability in elderly patientsTherefore there is an urgent need to find new screening approaches to achieve an early diagnosis of atrial fibrillation which could potentially be responsible at least in part for the neurological picture of these patientsThis could be useful in the future for implementing aggressive strategies aimed at rhythm control and the prevention of embolic events in these patients thus avoiding the progression of mild cognitive impairment to a form of dementia