Abstract
Purpose of Review
Pulmonary vein (PV) isolation is the cornerstone of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. However, the long-term procedural outcome remains suboptimal and there is a frequent need for repeat ablation procedure, especially in patients with non-paroxysmal AF. The review article summarizes the rationales, recent evidences, and strategies of ablation of extra-PV sites and its clinical outcomes.
Recent Findings
It is a consensus that durable PV isolations are a definite therapy in patients with paroxysmal AF. In non-paroxysmal AF, many laboratories still believe that adequate substrate ablation outside PVs is definitely required. Empirical linear ablation is not recommended because of difficulty in achieving complete linear block, unless macro-reentry atrial tachycardia developed during procedure. Most of laboratories applied complex fractionated atrial electrogram (CFAE) ablation after PV isolation in non-paroxysmal AF, but the efficacy is limited in the long-term follow-up studies. A combined approach using CFAE, non-linear similarity, and phase mapping strategy to identify rotors or focal sources for substrate modification increases the ablation outcome, when compared to CFAE ablation alone. Provocative test with mapping of non-PV triggers is also recommended in all patients to improve long-term ablation success.
Summary
Ablation beyond PV isolation is important, especially in non-paroxysmal AF patients, to modify the diseased atrial substrate and eliminate the non-PV triggers, which in turn improve the ablation outcome.
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Li-Wei Lo, Yenn-Jiang Lin, Shih-Lin Chang, Yu-Feng Hu, Fa-Po Chung, and Shih-Ann Chen declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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The present work was supported by the Taipei Veterans General Hospital (V102B-002, V102E7-003, V103C-042, V103C-126, V103E7-002, VGHUST103-G1-3-1, V104C-131, V104E7-003, VA105C-60), Ministry of Science and Technology (NSC 101-2911-I-008-001, NSC 102-2325-B-010-005, MOST 103-2314-B-075-062-MY3, MOST 104-2314-B-075-065-MY2), and Research Foundation of Cardiovascular Medicine (RFCM 100-02-011, 101-01-001, 104-01-009-01).
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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Invasive Electrophysiology and Pacing
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Lo, LW., Lin, YJ., Chang, SL. et al. Beyond Pulmonary Vein Isolation: the Role of Additional Sites in Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation. Curr Cardiol Rep 19, 86 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-017-0884-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-017-0884-4