Radiofrequency Ablation In Ventricular Fibrillation

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is the most common arrhythmic cause of sudden cardiac death. The present recommendation for prevention of VF is ICD implantation. However, ICDs are costly; the shocks they give are often very uncomfortable for the patient and they may need reimplantation if there is battery depletion. Radiofrequency ablation of VF was pioneered by Haissaguerre1 and is presently being tried by many investigators. VF is triggered mainly by an ectopic impulse falling in the "vulnerable" period and it is maintained by multiple reentrant wavelets. RFA of VF aims at controlling the trigger, that is, to eliminate the ectopic focus.