Bayés’ syndrome refers to the association between interatrial block and supraventricular arrhythmias—mainly the occurrence of atrial fibrillation. It is also a risk factor for cardio-embolic stroke. Rapid recognition by analyzing characteristic patterns in the surface ECG will help the physician to closely monitor the patient for atrial fibrillation and decide on anticoagulation therapy if the clinical risk of stroke is increased.

Interatrial blocks were described several decades ago; however, they are now gaining the attention of the medical community as a means of helping to identify patients at high risk of developing atrial fibrillation and/or cardio-embolic stroke.

I welcome all readers to navigate this book and to become familiar with this concept that is helping to renovate our models of predicting atrial fibrillation and stroke.

– Adrian Baranchuk, MD, FACC, FRCPC, FCCS
Professor of Medicine (Tenure)
Head, Heart Rhythm Service
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Chapter 1 The Long Journey to the Diagnosis of Interatrial Blocks: ECG-VCG Criteria
Antoni Bayés de Luna and Adrian Baranchuk

Chapter 2 Normal Electrical Atrial Activity
Pyotr G. Platonov

Chapter 3 Structure of the Bachmann bundle
José Angel Cabrera and Damián Sánchez-Quintana

Chapter 4 Physiopathology of the Interatrial Blocks
Antoni Bayés de Luna, Albert Massó van-Roessel, and Luis Alberto Escobar Robledo

Chapter 5 Contributions of Noncontact Mapping to the Understanding of Normal Atrial Activation
Colin Yeo, Robert Lemery, and Martin Green

Chapter 6 Contributions of Noncontact and Contact Mapping to the Understanding of Interatrial Block
Benedict M. Glover

Chapter 7 Epidemiology of Interatrial Block
Shreyas Gowdar, Lovely Chhabra, and David H. Spodick

Chapter 8 Consensus Document on Interatrial Blocks: 2016 Update
Antoni Bayés de Luna, Iwona Cygankiewicz, Javier García-Niebla, and Francisco G. Cosío

Chapter 9 Interatrial Block and Supraventricular Arrhythmias: Bayés’ Syndrome
Diego Conde and Adrian Baranchuk

Chapter 10 Correlation of Interatrial Block with Left Atrial Enlargement and P-wave Terminal Force
Larisa G. Tereshchenko

Chapter 11 Interatrial Block and Stroke
Arun Gautam, Lovely Chhabra, and David H. Spodick

Chapter 12 Interatrial Block as a Predictor of Atrial Fibrillation
Andres Enriquez and Diego Conde

Chapter 13 Interatrial Block as a Predictor of Post-CABG Atrial Fibrillation
Erik M. van Oosten and Adrian Baranchuk

Chapter 14 Interatrial Block in Octogenarians and Up
Manuel Martínez-Sellés and Antoni Bayés de Luna

Chapter 15 Interatrial Block in Hemodialysis Patients
Marco Marano

Chapter 16 Interatrial Block in Severe Heart Failure and the Impact of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy
Fariha Sadiq Ali, Roger Villuendas, and Antoni Bayés-Genís

Chapter 17 Interatrial Block in Patients with Sleep Apnea and the Impact of CPAP
Adrian Baranchuk and Benedict Glover

Chapter 18 Progressive Interatrial Block
Bryce Alexander and Adrian Baranchuk

Chapter 19 Atrial Resynchronization by Biatrial Pacing: Is This a Solution?
Jean-Claude Daubert, Raphaël Martins, and Philippe Mabo

Chapter 20 The Future (and Challenge) of Treating Interatrial Block in the 21st Century
Ignacio Fernández-Lozano, Diego Jiménez Sánchez, Eusebio García Izquierdo, and Antoni Bayés de Luna