patients with valvular heart disease and suffering atrial fibrillation of more than 12 months duration have a low probability of remaining in sinus rhythm after valve surgery alone. we performed intra-operative radiofrequency ablation or cryoablation as an alternative to surgical maze ііі procedure to create linear lesion lines for conversion of this arrhythmia to sinus rhythm. a total of 30 pa...

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...

A length polymorphism of GT repeats in the promoter region of the human heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) gene modulates its gene transcription to protect against myocardial injury. The present study investigated the association between HO-1 promoter polymorphisms and the outcomes of catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). The allelic frequencies of GT repeats in the HO-1 gene promoter were screen...

BACKGROUND Kidney function is a known predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) often have kidney dysfunction, less is known about the association between AF and kidney function. We sought to assess changes in kidney function after catheter ablation of AF. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients who underwent catheter ablation of AF were recruit...

Right atrial (RA) mapping has been recently more carefully examined in patients with idiopathic atrial fibrillation (AF) in order to improve radiofrequency (RF) catheter-mediated ablation lines to control recurrences. The aim of this study was to map right atrial activation during AF to analyze relationship between anatomy and atrial activation for specific sites. Twenty-four patients with recu...

INTRODUCTION The atrial activation sequence around the tricuspid annulus has been used to assess whether complete block has been achieved across the cavotricuspid isthmus during radiofrequency ablation of typical atrial flutter. However, sometimes the atrial activation sequence does not clearly establish the presence or absence of complete block. The purpose of this study was to determine wheth...

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...

Treatment strategy for atrial fibrillation (AF) is a controversial matter. Catheter ablation is increasingly being used to treat patients with AF, and recent studies have reported success rates >80% for paroxysmal AF and >70% for persistent AF. The purpose of this work is to review the evidence supporting catheter ablation and compare it with pharmacological treatment in the management of AF.

BACKGROUND The left atrial posterior wall (PW) often contains sites required for maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF). Electrical isolation of the PW is an important feature of all open surgeries for AF. This study assessed the ability of current ablation techniques to achieve PW isolation (PWI) and its effect on recurrent AF. METHODS AND RESULTS Fifty-seven consecutive patients with persi...

Background—Radiofrequency left atrial catheter ablation has become a routine procedure for treatment of atrial fibrillation. The aim of this study was to assess with preprocedural and postprocedural cerebral magnetic resonance imaging the thromboembolic risk, either silent or clinically manifest, in the context of atrial fibrillation ablation. The secondary end point was the identification of c...