Over the last years, major advances have been made in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). Early attempts to reproduce the catheter maze procedure, although barely effective, led to the observation that ectopic foci often originating in the pulmonary veins triggered paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. This, in turn, has heralded the development of focal ablation and, later on, pulmonary v...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES The recent introduction of navigation systems has made substantial improvements in cardiac electrophysiological mapping. We present our experience with non-fluoroscopic electroanatomical mapping in patients with atrial tachycardias. PATIENTS AND METHOD We studied 24 consecutive patients with atrial tachycardias (10 of whom had undergone previous radiofrequency abla...

After the introduction of endocardial radiofrequency catheter, only two arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation and ischemic ventricular tachycardia require surgical procedures. In this review, we describe recent advancements and problems of surgical treatment for atrial fibrillation. On the basis of multiple-circuit re-entry theory, Cox developed the maze operation with the aim of interrupting the re...

THE digitalis drugs can produce nearly everv form of disturbed heart rhythmi. Thus far elinical attention has been directed to the venitricular effects. Digitalis-induced ventricular arrhythmias are therefore clearly catalogued and are recognized as of potentially grave signifieance. Recent studies indicate that certaiin atrial disorders are also imaniifestations of serious digitalis poisoning....

OBJECTIVES The purpose of our work was to define the complex electrophysiological characteristics seen in second- (2 degrees) and third-degree (3 degrees) atrioventricular block (AVB) and to longitudinally follow the development of atrial and ventricular heart rate and rhythm patterns with a goal of identifying heart rate and rhythm patterns associated with urgent delivery or neonatal pacing. ...

VENTRICULAR FUSION, summation or combination beats occur when two separate pacemakers compete for control of the ventricles. The usual pair of pacemakers are the sinoatrial node and an ectopic ventricular focus; but any pair of pacemakers, whose impulses invade the ventricular myocardium more or less simultaneously but at different points, can produce fusion beats. An ectopic atrial focus or th...