Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: current status, techniques, outcomes and challenges.

Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: current status, techniques, outcomes and challenges. Kardiol Pol. 2018 Nov 08;: Authors: Hindricks G, Sepehri Shamloo A, Lenarczyk R, Kalarus Z, Arya A, Kircher S, Darma A, Dagres N Abstract Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common human arrhythmia. Interventional treatment with catheter ablation is meanwhile an established technique that is increasingly applied and has become one of the main treatment modalities in patients with AF. Ablation results in significant improvement of symptoms and quality of life. There is up to now no clear evidence of an impact of the procedure on hard clinical endpoints except in patients with heart failure who seem to benefit significantly from ablation. Cornerstone of the procedure is achievement of pulmonary vein isolation. Radiofrequency energy is the main applied energy source but cryoballoon ablation has emerged as a safe and effective alternative to RF ablation. Additional ablation strategies and novel technical features have been proposed but without unequivocal proof of clinical benefit. Most promising of these seems to be substrate mapping of the left atrium with substrate modification in areas with low voltage as an adjunct to pulmonary vein isolation. Complication rates remains considerable despite accumulated experience and can be partly reduced by application of preventive measures. PMID: 30406938 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Polish Heart Journal - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Kardiol Pol Source Type: research