BACKGROUND Among patients undergoing mitral-valve surgery, 30 to 50% present with atrial fibrillation, which is associated with reduced survival and increased risk of stroke. Surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation has been widely adopted, but evidence regarding its safety and effectiveness is limited. METHODS We randomly assigned 260 patients with persistent or long-standing persistent atri...

A new era of atrial fibrillation (AF) treatment began in 1997– 1998 with the discovery that triggers within the pulmonary veins initiate AF and reports that elimination of these triggers is successful in treating AF in its paroxysmal form. However, in patients with persistent AF, the success rate of exclusive pulmonary vein isolation is substantially lower. To improve the outcome of persistent ...

Introduction Percutaneous catheter ablation is an established rhythm control strategy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Recent clinical trials show that catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation reduces the risk of recurrence of symptomatic AF, atrial flutter, or atrial tachycardia, and may also reduce subsequent hospitalizations and improve quality of life compared to antiarrhythmi...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of radiofrequency ablation for reentrant tachyarrhythmias in children and young adults. SETTING A tertiary cardiac referral centre. PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS Over a 16 month period 22 patients aged less than 20 years (median age 16.5 years) underwent 26 radiofrequency ablation procedures for atrioventricular reentry tachycardia through an accessory pathway....

BACKGROUND Data regarding long-term follow-up of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of accessory pathways (APs) in patients with Ebstein's anomaly (EA) are limited. The procedures are challenging due to multiple or wide APs. METHODS Analysis was performed on clinical and periprocedural data of patients with EA referred to the centre in order to perform catheter ablation of AP. The group ...

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder in adults. Currently, use of the circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (CPVI) technique is the cornerstone of ablation therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. In this report, we described our ablation strategy and outcomes when treating a limited number of AF patients. METHODS This study enrolled patients with...

Radiofrequency catheter (RF) ablation aiming the complete conduction block of the cavotricuspid isthmus has become treatment of choice for common type atrial flutter. Different approaches to guide the ablation procedure are used. For the conventional approach multipolar catheters in the right atrium and in the coronary sinus are required to detect the induction of conduction block via the isthm...

AIMS Catheter ablation is a treatment of first choice for many arrhythmias. Data in geriatric patients are still limited, mostly focusing on single arrhythmia types. The aim of the study was to investigate characteristics of contemporary ablation therapy in the very elderly, focusing on patient characteristics, arrhythmia spectrum, and outcome in a large cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied...

Radiofrequency ablation has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment strategy for the management of symptomatic patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It is supported by a success rate of 95% and a recurrence rate of less than 5%. However, ablation of accessory pathways can be challenging at times. The causes for failure can be grouped into three categories - unusual location of t...