Non-conducted premature atrial complexes: a silent culprit of atrial fibrillation onset

Atrial fi brillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in adults with substantial morbidity and mortality. AF increases the risk of stroke 5 -fold compared to the general population and oral anticoagulant therapy represents the cornerstone for stroke prevention. Therefore, it is necessary to identify predictive factors for the onset of AF in order to screen patients with a high probability of AF development. We report the case of a 69 -year -old patient asymptomatic for palpitation with a 24 -hour Holter ECG showing several ncPACs (non -conducted premature atrial complexes) leading to AF onset.