Abstract
Are balloon based strategies better than conventional radiofrequency catheter ablation: Exploring new frontiers in the treatment of atrial fibrillation
Highlights
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia causing considerable and increasing morbidity and mortality burdens on the population
Since this condition has become amenable to ablative therapy there is a constant rise in the number of catheter ablations for AF performed worldwide.[2]
As our understanding of the complex pathophysiology of this arrhythmia increases, the advantages of circular linear lesions to completely isolate the pulmonary veins (PV) from the left atrium (LA) have become obvious.[3,4]
Summary
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia causing considerable and increasing morbidity and mortality burdens on the population. Identification of electrical triggers from the pulmonary veins (PV) inducing paroxysmal AF led to potentially curative treatment strategies by radiofrequency (RF) ablation.[1] Since this condition has become amenable to ablative therapy there is a constant rise in the number of catheter ablations for AF performed worldwide.[2] As our understanding of the complex pathophysiology of this arrhythmia increases, the advantages of circular linear lesions to completely isolate the PVs from the left atrium (LA) have become obvious.[3,4] Inclusion of the LA-PV junction into the isolated regions serves the double purpose of eliminating arrhythmogenic substrate as well as adding a safety margin to the lesions, decreasing the incidence of postablation PV stenosis, currently reported at 2-7 %.5 To create these long ablation lines with point-to-point lesions using catheters originally designed for focal or comparatively short linear ablations, such as at the cavotricuspid isthmus, is technically demanding and time consuming. Asirvatham, M.D.,Division of Cardiovascular Diseases,Associate Professor of Medicine,Mayo Clinic College of Medicine,[200] First Street SW,Rochester, MN 55905.Submitted on: 23rd December 2008 Accepted on : 23rd January 2009. conflict of interest: Authors have nothing to declare
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