[Significance of spontaneous reduction of long term auricular fibrillation. Apropos of a case followed by subtotal auricular paralysis].

The authors report the case of a female patient with mitro-aortic valve disease, whose atrial fibrillation had been recorded over a period of 13 years. There was then a conversion to sinus rhythm, followed by the appearance of a junctional rhythm with retrograde atrial conduction. Intracavitory investigation revealed that the electrical activity of the right atrium could be recorded only from a limited area, and that atrial stimulation was effective only over that area. This subtotal atrial paralysis suggests that the spontaneous conversion from atrial fibrillation was a sign of deterioration in the condition rather than of a "paradoxical improvement".