Introduction The importance of an epicardial substrate for cardiac arrhythmias has been increasingly recognized. Combined endocardial and epicardial mapping and radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) has become the standard strategy for treatment of ventricular tachycardia (VT). The subxiphoid approach is the standard and most frequently used method for percutaneous epicardial access. However,...

conclusions: catheter ablation of flutter circuit will not prevent later manifestation of af in 16% of the patients undergoing catheter ablation of the typical afl. bmi was the only independent predictor of af following catheter ablation of the typical afl. objectives; to determine long-term incidence and predictors of af after catheter ablation of typical afl. material and methods: between mar...

Radiofrequency catheter ablation is recommended with increasing frequency as part of a treatment regimen for both paroxysmal and persistent forms of symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF), largely because of the relatively poor efficacy of antiarrhythmic medications1 and trials showing improvement in quality of life and reduction in AF in selected patients.2 The ongoing Catheter Ablation Versus A...

BACKGROUND Radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation has been associated with some risk of thromboembolic events. Previous studies showed that preventive short episodes of forearm ischemia (remote ischemic preconditioning [IPC]) reduce exercise-induced platelet reactivity. In this study, we assessed whether remote IPC has any effect on platelet activation induced by radiofrequency ablation...

BACKGROUND Cerebral diffusion-weighted MRI lesions have been observed after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation. We hypothesized that conditions predisposing to microembolization could be identified using a porcine model of pulmonary vein ablation and an extracorporeal circulation loop. METHODS AND RESULTS Ablations of the pulmonary veins were performed in 18 swine with echo monitoring. ...

BACKGROUND Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) is increasingly performed for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), but it is problematic because the use of anti-arrhythmic agents is largely restricted in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) therapy. However, little is known about the long-term clinical outcomes of AF after RFCA in HD patients. METHODS Between 2002 and 2008, 16 HD pa...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to report the results and complications of radiofrequency catheter ablation of accessory atrioventricular (AV) connections by using an abbreviated approach aimed at minimizing the duration of the procedure. METHODS AND RESULTS Two hundred fifty consecutive patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome or paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia invol...

BACKGROUND It is not clear whether bidirectional block (BDB) of linear ablations reduces atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after radiofrequency catheter ablation. We hypothesized that BDB of linear ablation has prognostic significance after radiofrequency catheter ablation for persistent AF. METHODS AND RESULTS Among 1793 consecutive patients in the Yonsei AF ablation cohort, this observati...

In the past decade, catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) has evolved as one of the most frequently performed procedures in tertiary arrhythmia centers worldwide. With the observation of the actively firing trigger originating from within the pulmonary veins (PVs), ablation strategies have focused at least in paroxysmal AF patients on complete isolation of the PVs. Several different abl...

1158 CMAJ, September 17, 2013, 185(13) © 2013 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors References 1. Cappato R, Calkins H, Chen S, et al. Prevalence and causes of fatal outcome in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation. J Am Coll Cardiol 2009;53:1798-803. 2. Mohr FW, Fabricius AM, Falk V, et al. Curative treatment of atrial fibrillation with intraoperative radiofrequency ablation: short-...