A review of the safety aspects of radio frequency ablation

Publication date: Available online 9 June 2015 Source:IJC Heart & Vasculature Author(s): Abhishek Bhaskaran , William Chik , Stuart Thomas Pramesh Kovoor , Aravinda Thiagalingam In light of recent reports showing high incidence of silent cerebral infarcts and organized atrial arrhythmias following radiofrequency (RF) atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation, a review of its safety aspects is timely. Serious complications do occur during Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) ablations and knowledge of their incidence is important when deciding whether to proceed with ablation. Evidence is emerging for the probable role of prophylactic ischemic scar ablation to prevent VT. This might increase the number of procedures performed. Here we look at the various complications of RF ablation and also the methods to minimize them. Electronic database was searched for relevant articles from 1990 to 2015. With better awareness and technological advancements in RF ablation the incidence of complications have improved considerably. In AF ablation it has decreased from 6% to less than 4% comprising of vascular complications, cardiac tamponade, stroke, phrenic nerve injury, pulmonary vein stenosis, AEF and death. Safety of SVT ablation has also improved with less than 1% incidence of AV node injury in AVNRT ablation. In VT ablation the incidence of major complications was 5–11%, upto 3.4%, upto 1.8% and 4.1–8.8% in patients with structural heart disease, without structural heart dis...
Source: IJC Heart and Vasculature - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research