Atrial disease and heart failure: the common soil hypothesis proposed by the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology.

The article presents the discussion on abnormal atrial structure and function termed as atrial myopathy or atrial disease being common in patients with heart failure (HF). Topics include atrial dilatation, fibrosis, and functional impairment being common if not universal accompaniments of both HF and AF; and containing collagen synthesis and degradation, autonomic innervation, activated platelets, and coagulation factors, and inflammatory pathways.