Ablation of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: looking for the simple answer.

摘要

The standard catheter ablation technique for the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation is based on: (1) the creation of circumferential lesions around the pulmonary veins by means of radiofrequency energy at the ostial or antral level and (2) confirmation of the electrical isolation of all the veins.This approach is associated with an acute success rate of 95-100% and a risk of major complications of 3-4%. The reported incidence of atrial fibrillation/flutter recurrence, after a blanking period of 2-3 months, is about 20-30% when antiarrhythmic drugs are administered and about 40-50% when this therapy is not used.