Atrial fibrillation affects the atria which contract in a disordered and ineffective way, thus promoting the formation of blood clots. The heartbeat becomes rapid and irregular.

Atrial fribrillation can be paroxysmal (multiple episodes usually lasting less than 48 hours and spontaneous termination), persistent (sustained arrhythmia beyond 7 days or needing treatment to stop the arrhythmia) and permanent (lasting over a year). Its appearance is favored by certain pre-existing cardiac disorders (infarction, cardiomyopathy, valve pathology...), hormonal disorders (thyroid), obesity and diabetes. 

In the 90s, Liryc doctors identified the triggers of atrial fibrillation ("sparks") in the pulmonary veins. This landmark discovery led to the development of a curative treatment of this disease.

This treatment consists of cauterizing the pulmonary veins by a radiofrequency catheter so as to exclude these arrhythmia triggers. This approach has become the treatment of reference: to date, over 300,000 patients are treated annually worldwide.

The cellular mechanisms of venous firing and potential molecular targets are unknown.There are still some areas requiring work, in particular for screening diagnostic and prognostic tools and effective new treatments for this arrhythmia. 

• To develop better ablation tools for safer, faster and easier procedures.
• To develop drug therapy, targeting venous cells.
• To develop biomarkers and new strategies.