Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jun;110(6):775-788.
doi: 10.1007/s00392-020-01751-5. Epub 2020 Oct 22.

Atrial fibrillation ablation strategies and technologies: past, present, and future

Thomas J Buist  1 , Douglas P Zipes  2 , Arif Elvan  3
Affiliations
Review

Atrial fibrillation ablation strategies and technologies: past, present, and future

Thomas J Buist et al. Clin Res Cardiol. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Catheter ablation is an established treatment option for atrial fibrillation (AF), and pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has become the gold standard in AF ablation. AF recurrence after PVI remains an important clinical problem. Recovery of conduction from the pulmonary veins (PVs) is considered the dominant mechanism for AF recurrence in paroxysmal AF. However, the underlying mechanism of AF recurrence after PVI is more complex in patients with persistent and longstanding persistent AF. Different ablation technologies and energy sources have been developed aimed at improving lesion quality and durability with an acceptable safety profile. Novel technologies are under evaluation which have a great potential to produce permanent PVI after a single ablation procedure. However, clinical value of these novel devices needs to be tested in adequately powered randomized controlled trials. In this article, we review the history of catheter ablation for AF and discuss the present and future ablation technologies.

Keywords: Ablation; Ablation techniques; Ablation technologies; Atrial fibrillation; Catheter ablation; Electrophysiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Chugh SS, Havmoeller R, Narayanan K, Singh D, Rienstra M, Benjamin EJ, Gillum RF, Kim Y-H, McAnulty JHJ, Zheng Z-J, Forouzanfar MH, Naghavi M, Mensah GA, Ezzati M, Murray CJL (2014) Worldwide epidemiology of atrial fibrillation: a Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study. Circulation 129(8):837–847 - PubMed
    1. Dorian P, Jung W, Newman D, Paquette M, Wood K, Ayers GM, Camm J, Akhtar M, Luderitz B (2000) The impairment of health-related quality of life in patients with intermittent atrial fibrillation: implications for the assessment of investigational therapy. J Am Coll Cardiol 36(4):1303–1309 - PubMed
    1. Miyasaka Y, Barnes ME, Bailey KR, Cha SS, Gersh BJ, Seward JB, Tsang TSMM (2007) Mortality trends in patients diagnosed with first atrial fibrillation: a 21 year community-based study. J Am Coll Cardiol 49(9):986–992 - PubMed
    1. Kannel WB, Wolf PA, Benjamin EJ, Levy D (1998) Prevalence, incidence, prognosis, and predisposing conditions for atrial fibrillation: population-based estimates. Am J Cardiol 82(8A):2N-9N - PubMed
    1. Wang TJ, Larson MG, Levy D, Vasan RS, Leip EP, Wolf PA, D’Agostino RB, Murabito JM, Kannel WB, Benjamin EJ, D’Agostino RB, Murabito JM, Kannel WB, Benjamin EJ (2003) Temporal relations of atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure and their joint influence on mortality: the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation 107(23):2920–2925 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources