Catheters able to measure the force and vector of contact between the catheter tip and myocardium are now available. Pre-clinical work has established that the degree of contact between the radiofrequency ablation catheter and myocardium correlates with the size of the delivered lesion. Excess contact is associated with steam pops and perforation. Catheter contact varies within the left atrium ...

BACKGROUND The preferential citation of studies with the highest success rates could exaggerate perceived effectiveness, particularly for treatments with widely varying published success rates such as radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation. METHODS AND RESULTS We systematically identified observational studies and clinical trials of radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial...

INTRODUCTION No prior studies have quantitatively analyzed the characteristics of bipolar or unipolar electrograms that may be helpful in identifying successful ostial ablation sites in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing segmental pulmonary vein isolation. METHODS AND RESULTS The characteristics of bipolar and unipolar electrograms recorded at 185 successful and 120 unsuccessful ost...

Radiofrequency ablation of the atrioventricular (AV) junction may be performed using either a right- or left-sided approach. This study prospectively compared the left-sided approach with persistent attempts from the right side in patients in whom initial radiofrequency applications on the right side were unsuccessful. Twenty-one of 54 patients did not have complete AV block induced after 3 rig...

only, full publication included1. Chan P, Vijan S, Morady F, Oral H. Cost-effectiveness of left atrial catheter ablation,antiarrhythmic therapy, and rate control therapy for paroxysmal and chronic atrialfibrillation. Circulation 2005;111(20):E318. 2. Reynolds MR, Ellis E, Danilov T, Zimetbaum P, Josephson ME, Cohen DJ. Costeffectiveness of radiofrequency catheter ablation vs. an...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common supraventricular arrhythmia in adults and catheter ablation has increasingly become the therapy of choice for symptomatic, recurrent, drug refractory AF. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the utility of computed tomography (CT) imaging in guiding radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA), as well as highlight the additional radiographic and func...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of a novel, multielectrode, duty-cycled radiofrequency ablation (RFA) system for long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). BACKGROUND RFA for persistent AF remains a lengthy and challenging procedure. METHODS In 5 European centers, 50 patients with long-standing persistent AF underwent RFA. A circular pulmon...

Radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation is the preferred choice for the treatment of symptomatic reentrant arrhythmias associated with accessory pathways or dual atrioventricular conduction. The mechanism of irreversible tissue injury by the RF catheter ablation is primarily thermally mediated [1,2]. The myocardial cellular electrophysiological effects of hyperthermia muscle have been recently ou...

introduction: to compare endovenous laser ablation (evla) and radiofrequency ablation (rfa) in different legs in the same individual in patients with venous insufficiency. methods: sixty patients with bilateral saphenous vein insufficiency were included. evla or rfa was applied to one of the patient’s legs and rfa or evla to the other leg. results: evla and rfa complications were hyperemia at 2...

background: atrial fibrillation is a common arrhythmia in patients with rheumatic mitral and other valve diseases who are candidates for valve repair surgeries. conversion of rhythm to sinus has positive effects on quality of life and lower use of medications. the aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the radiofrequency ablation maze iii procedure in the treatment of a...