At baseline in the acute phase, severe increased immunohistological signs of inflammation, infiltrative cells (mean 57.7 ± 25.6 LFA-1 + lymphocytes/mm2 and mean 95.5 ± 44.8 Mac 1 monocytes/macrophages/mm2) as well as cell adhesion molecules (mean 0.082 ± 0.068 HLA-1/AF and 0.051 ± 0.042 ICAM-1/AF) were detected in all patients. The gene discussed is ICAM1; the disease is atrial fibrillation.